{"id":7521,"date":"2013-02-14T05:15:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7521"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:12:11","slug":"sandwich-terns-love-is-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/14\/sandwich-terns-love-is-in-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandwich Terns – Love Is In The Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SandwichSandwich Terns – Love is in the air – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I can recall clearly the day I took this photograph of Sandwich Terns mating.<\/p>\n

I was sitting very low in a tidal lagoon on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida. It was very warm and the water of the lagoon felt great on my skin when these two terns started a breeding display.<\/p>\n

When the male mounted the female and I filled up my buffer a few times while photographing them.<\/p>\n

Love is in the air.<\/p>\n

Happy Valentine’s Day!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I can recall clearly the day I took this photograph of Sandwich Terns mating. I was sitting very low in a tidal lagoon on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153958,"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":[27,25,704,1860],"tags":[4004,4021,4030,37,4153,4363,4348,519,3980,1861,4479,102,4032],"class_list":["post-7521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-sandwich-terns","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-breeding","tag-florida-2","tag-fort-de-soto-county-park","tag-mating","tag-mating-display","tag-nature","tag-pinellas-county","tag-sandwich-tern","tag-thalasseus-sandvicensis","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-mating-mia-mcpherson-5832.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Xj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10441,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/13\/displaying-sandwich-terns-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":7521,"position":0},"title":"Displaying Sandwich Terns In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"These Sandwich Terns were courting early one morning at Fort De Soto's north beach and even though the light wasn't \"sweet\" I felt their courtship behavior was interesting.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Displaying Sandwich Terns in low light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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older image of a juvenile Sandwich Tern in flight from my Florida archives to post this morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Sandwich Tern in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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was taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach several years ago, it was a breezy, very warm day and there were schools of baitfish running just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandwich Tern in flight with prey, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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