{"id":15636,"date":"2014-08-12T05:58:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T11:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15636"},"modified":"2021-05-24T04:13:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T10:13:06","slug":"hovering-forsters-tern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/12\/hovering-forsters-tern\/","title":{"rendered":"Hovering Forster’s Tern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HoveringHovering Forster’s Tern – Nikon D7100, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week I photographed this adult Forster’s Tern in flight as it foraged for food\u00a0above Glover\u00a0Pond near Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a>. I have found photographing terns in flight challenging because they fly fast and change direction even faster. For Forster’s Terns hovering only lasts 3 to 4 seconds which doesn’t give photographers much time to lock focus and fire the shutter.<\/p>\n

I love the pose of the tern in this image although I do wish I had gotten better eye contact but that can be difficult because they have black eyes in their black caps plus they look down to search for prey . Quite often I will hear their call<\/a><\/span>\u00a0before I see them which gives me time to locate the tern and track its movement through my viewfinder. Forster’s Terns do breed in Utah and I often see them flying over freshwater marshes, ponds and lakes\u00a0searching for prey.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Forster’s Tern photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I photographed this adult Forster’s Tern in flight as it foraged for food above Glover Pond near Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[27,1022,697,1412,26],"tags":[4004,7755,4052,4122,1130,7754,2120,4174,3970,1984,4354,2090,629,4095],"class_list":["post-15636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-forsters-terns","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-eye-contact","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-food","tag-foraged","tag-forsters-tern-2","tag-hovering-2","tag-hunting","tag-pond","tag-sterna-forsteri","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/forsters-tern-hovering-mia-mcpherson-5987.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-44c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138401,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/30\/i-saw-my-first-forsters-terns-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":15636,"position":0},"title":"I Saw My First Forster’s Terns At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On my most recent trip to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, I saw, but didn\u2019t photograph, Forster\u2019s Terns flying and hunting over Sally Jones Lake.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Forster's Tern in flight over the Gulf, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-3863.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-3863.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-3863.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-3863.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60375,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/21\/photographing-immature-forsters-terns-on-the-hunt-and-catching-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":15636,"position":1},"title":"Photographing Immature Forster’s Terns On The Hunt And Catching Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun testing my skills by photographing several immature Forster's Terns that were hunting for and catching prey at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Forster's Tern with a small fish, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/forsters-tern-immature-with-prey-mia-mcpherson-5593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/forsters-tern-immature-with-prey-mia-mcpherson-5593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/forsters-tern-immature-with-prey-mia-mcpherson-5593.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/forsters-tern-immature-with-prey-mia-mcpherson-5593.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37980,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/08\/an-adult-forsters-tern-hovering-over-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":15636,"position":2},"title":"An Adult Forster’s Tern Hovering Over Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Forster's Tern hovering over prey there were several others in the area doing the same thing which makes it difficult to decide on which bird to photograph.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Forster's Tern hovering over prey, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/forsters-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/22\/hunting-forsters-tern-in-breeding-plumage-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":15636,"position":3},"title":"Hunting Forster’s Tern in breeding plumage at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Forster's Tern was hovering while hunting over a unit of water on the auto tour route of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah in clear morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hovering, hunting Forster's Tern in breeding plumage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/forsters-tern-breeding-adult-mia-mcpherson-7450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/forsters-tern-breeding-adult-mia-mcpherson-7450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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