{"id":46464,"date":"2017-04-25T06:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46464"},"modified":"2025-09-18T06:06:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T11:06:34","slug":"royal-terns-courting-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/25\/royal-terns-courting-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Terns Courting in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoyalRoyal Tern in breeding plumage with gift for mate – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After seeing several of my Florida friends posting images of courting Royals Terns recently because it is that time of year I decided to dig into my archives and retrieve some of my own photos of Royal Terns courting at Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a> to share today.<\/p>\n

Male Royal Terns usually bring a small fish as a gift for the females when they are courting. This male had flown in and was keeping an eye on the female when I photographed him with his crest erect.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalRoyal Tern courtship behavior – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes the male and female Royal Terns walk side by side through the flock as if they were in a parade.<\/p>\n

\"CourtingCourting Royal Terns on the beach – Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1\/750, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 220mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually there is a lot of posturing by both sexes when courting on the ground and the males may circle the females.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalRoyal Tern strutting during courtship behavior – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1500, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Or the males might strut in front of the females and the rest of the flock while nodding their heads and calling.<\/p>\n

Listen to them here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalRoyal Terns courting – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/3000, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The “Circling” courtship behavior of Royal Terns was one that I found interesting because as the male circled the female she moved too and kept her sides facing him. I don’t recall ever photographing the Royal Terns mating on the beach but it is possible that I did and have just forgotten it and I didn’t have time this morning to go through all of my images.<\/p>\n

I do not see Royal Terns in Utah and I miss them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Royal Tern photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

These images were taken in 2008 and 2009<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “Circling” courtship behavior of Royal Terns was one that I found interesting because as the male circled the female she moved too and kept her sides facing him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156600,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,407],"tags":[4004,4039,5831,4935,5411,2498,3535,4916,4070,4432,5833,4062,5832,4106,4376,4017,2090,629,4267],"class_list":["post-46464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-royal-terns","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-breeding-grounds","tag-call","tag-circling","tag-courting","tag-courtship-behavior","tag-crest","tag-female","tag-fish","tag-gift","tag-male","tag-parade","tag-prey","tag-royal-tern","tag-sand","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-thalasseus-maximus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-c5q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6497,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/04\/royal-terns-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":46464,"position":0},"title":"Royal Terns In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a simple post today to show the differences in the breeding and nonbreeding plumage of Royal Terns.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Royal Tern in nonbreeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/royal-tern-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-5895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/royal-tern-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-5895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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