{"id":20938,"date":"2015-03-13T05:56:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T11:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=20938"},"modified":"2025-09-19T14:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T19:34:23","slug":"common-tern-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/13\/common-tern-and-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Tern And Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-156886 size-full\" title=\"Common Tern and friends, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg\" alt=\"Common Tern and friends, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Common Tern and friends &#8211; Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One July morning at 2008 I came across quite a few Common Terns at Fort De Soto County Park&#8217;s north beach. Despite their name Common Terns weren&#8217;t all that common in Florida except during migration so I was happy to find them there on the beach and in flight along the shore.<\/p>\n<p>Common Terns populations were decimated in the 19th century due to the millinery trade but they recovered with protection as did many other bird species that were targeted by feather collectors so women could wear feathers in their hats during that time period.<\/p>\n<p>Common Terns are also called &#8220;Sea Swallows&#8221; and I like that name.<\/p>\n<p>This Common Tern was resting on the beach when I photographed it in front of a flock of Sandwich Terns and a few Laughing Gulls.<\/p>\n<p>Even in nonbreeding plumage Common Terns are quite dashing in my opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Life is good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/common-tern-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Common Tern photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One July morning at 2008 I came across quite a few Common Terns at Fort De Soto County Park&#8217;s north beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156886,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,3446,25,704],"tags":[4004,4039,4021,14752,3447,173,4077,4246,3980,4017,3448,2090,629],"class_list":["post-20938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-terns","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal-island","tag-common-tern","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-pinellas-county","tag-sand","tag-sterna-hirundo","tag-tern","tag-terns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- 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