{"id":8343,"date":"2013-05-14T03:45:59","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T09:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8343"},"modified":"2025-09-17T16:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:30:15","slug":"royal-tern-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/14\/royal-tern-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Tern Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoyalRoyal Tern Over<\/span><\/p>\n

Royals Terns make amazing dive bombs for their prey which are usually\u00a0small baitfish running close to the surface and sometimes if you are lucky you get to see them “Tern Over” in mid air.<\/p>\n

This Royal Tern is really shaking off the water it soaked up after a dive for prey but it also does make it difficult to tell which way is up!<\/p>\n

This was taken on a cloudy morning, oh how I wish it had been “Sunnyside up”.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

~I’m out of town but will be back soon, please feel free to share this post with your friends and family!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Royals Terns make amazing dive bombs for their prey which are usually small baitfish running close to the surface and sometimes if you are lucky you get to see them “Tern Over” in mid air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156561,"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":[27,25,704,407],"tags":[4021,14752,4052,4122,173,9413,3980,4376,2315,2090,629,4267,12127,2214],"class_list":["post-8343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-royal-terns","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal-island","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gulf-coast","tag-over","tag-pinellas-county","tag-royal-tern","tag-summer-3","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-thalasseus-maximus","tag-turn","tag-upside-down"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-mia-mcpherson-4267.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2az","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/04\/spring-caspian-tern-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":8343,"position":0},"title":"Spring Caspian Tern Photos Plus A Bonus Osprey Image","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"At the end of last month, I had the pleasure of taking Caspian Tern photos as these terns were flying and fishing at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nearly eye level with a flying Caspian Tern, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/caspian-tern-adult-flight-urban-mia-mcpherson-3874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/caspian-tern-adult-flight-urban-mia-mcpherson-3874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/caspian-tern-adult-flight-urban-mia-mcpherson-3874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/caspian-tern-adult-flight-urban-mia-mcpherson-3874.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6335,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/12\/sandwich-tern-in-flight-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":8343,"position":1},"title":"Sandwich Tern In Flight With Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This image Sandwich Tern 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138401,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/30\/i-saw-my-first-forsters-terns-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":8343,"position":3},"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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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48415,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/10\/forsters-tern-with-prey-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":8343,"position":5},"title":"Forster’s Tern With Prey At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I have had fun photographing Forster's Terns the last few times I have gone to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, they are graceful, beautiful terns and they challenge my skills.","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 after successful dive for 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