{"id":14881,"date":"2014-05-04T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14881"},"modified":"2024-11-24T09:55:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T15:55:34","slug":"an-aerial-food-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/04\/an-aerial-food-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"An Aerial Food Fight – Gulls And A Tern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoyalRoyal Tern with prey being chased by immature Laughing and American Herring Gulls – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 250, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 210mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This image was taken on a breezy April morning in 2009 at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach when I saw an aerial food fight occurring over the Gulf of Mexico. The Royal Tern caught a small fish and an immature American Herring Gull and first winter Laughing Gull gave chase to try to steal the prey away from the tern.<\/p>\n

It was difficult to track these birds with my lens because they all moved extremely fast and their turns in the air were unpredictable. The chase only happened for a few seconds and in the end the adult Royal Tern tossed the fish down its bill while in flight leaving the Laughing and Herring Gulls to move on to find prey of their own.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This image was taken on a breezy April morning in 2009 at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach when I saw an aerial food fight occurring over the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1299,27,25,704,188,407],"tags":[1589,4021,4284,4052,4122,1130,5830,4077,4317,3995,4160,3980,4376,4267],"class_list":["post-14881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-herring-gulls","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-laughing-gulls-gulls","category-royal-terns","tag-herring-gull","tag-bird-photography","tag-chase","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-food","tag-food-fight","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-larus-smithsonianus","tag-laughing-gull","tag-leucophaeus-atricilla","tag-pinellas-county","tag-royal-tern","tag-thalasseus-maximus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/royal-tern-herring-gull-laughing-gull-mia-mcpherson-7879.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3S1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7300,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/28\/the-answer-to-the-gull-and-tern-quiz-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":14881,"position":0},"title":"The Answer To The Gull And Tern Quiz Is…","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The majority of you voted for the correct answer: Juvenile Herring Gull, 1st winter Laughing Gull and Royal Tern","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Royal Tern in breeding plumage with gift for mate, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-6391.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-6391.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herring Gull - California Gull Comparison and ID Features, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"January 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I like gulls. I especially like being able to see them up close when the opportunities arise and will take advantage of my close proximity by taking portraits of these beautiful but often disliked birds.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peaceful Laughing Gull portrait, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109376,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/06\/immature-herring-gull-testing-the-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":14881,"position":5},"title":"Immature American Herring Gull Testing The Ice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It was January 6, 2021, when I photographed this immature American Herring Gull testing the ice at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature American Herring Gull testing the ice, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/herring-gull-immature-ice-mia-mcpherson-4236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/herring-gull-immature-ice-mia-mcpherson-4236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/herring-gull-immature-ice-mia-mcpherson-4236.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/herring-gull-immature-ice-mia-mcpherson-4236.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}