{"id":44074,"date":"2016-12-22T06:07:33","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T13:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44074"},"modified":"2021-08-10T16:37:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T22:37:50","slug":"hunting-forsters-tern-in-breeding-plumage-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/22\/hunting-forsters-tern-in-breeding-plumage-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting Forster’s Tern in breeding plumage at Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hovering,Hovering, hunting Forster’s Tern in breeding plumage – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I came across this Forster’s Tern image a while back that I had taken in May of 2015 but had not processed because originally I thought the shadow of the right wing tips on the terns head was distracting but after looking at it again I decided it didn’t bother me as much as it did when I first viewed the file.<\/p>\n

Forster’s Terns breed and raise their young in Utah and when they arrive in the spring they are already in their breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

This Forster’s Tern was hovering while hunting over a unit of water on the auto tour route of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah in clear morning light. The tern was so close that I needed to remove my 1.4x teleconverter to reduce the chances of clipping the tern’s wings in my files while I photographed it.<\/p>\n

It is a challenge to photograph Forster’s Terns while they are hunting prey because they only hover for a few seconds before they either dive very quickly into the water below after their prey or move on just as quickly to another location to hunt some more. I always feel satisfied when I can photograph these terns hovering and get sharp, detailed photos because of how difficult it is.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Forster\u2019s Tern photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44073,"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":[124,27,1148,1412,26],"tags":[4004,4053,4052,4122,2120,4174,3970,4092,4354,2090,629],"class_list":["post-44074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-forsters-terns","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-forsters-tern-2","tag-hovering-2","tag-hunting","tag-refuge","tag-sterna-forsteri","tag-tern","tag-terns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/forsters-tern-breeding-adult-mia-mcpherson-7450.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bsS","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":44074,"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, 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2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Right now these terns at the refuge are busy feeding their young although some of the juvenile Forster's Terns have already learned how to capture prey on their own.","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":"Juvenile Forster's Tern in flight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/forsters-tern-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8841.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/forsters-tern-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8841.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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