{"id":9371,"date":"2013-09-03T03:45:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T09:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9371"},"modified":"2026-02-02T08:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:43:22","slug":"waves-and-a-forsters-tern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/03\/waves-and-a-forsters-tern\/","title":{"rendered":"Waves And A Forster’s Tern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Forster'sForster’s Tern in front of a dark colored wave<\/span><\/p>\n

The nonbreeding Forster’s Tern in these two images is the same bird and the images were taken ten frames and a few seconds apart as the tern stood on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida.<\/p>\n

\"Forster'sForster’s Tern in front of a light colored wave<\/span><\/p>\n

When photographing birds on the shoreline when there are waves just a few seconds can really make a difference in the background.<\/p>\n

In the top Forester’s Tern<\/span><\/a> image the wave had just barely begun to break while in the second image the wave had crested which gave the background lighter colors plus it gave the sand under the bird a glassy look where the wave had washed on shore.<\/p>\n

Just a few seconds can make a difference.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The nonbreeding Forster’s Tern in these two images is the same bird and the images were taken ten frames and a few seconds apart as the tern stood on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9370,"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":[27,25,1412,704,2000],"tags":[4004,970,5132,4620,2120,4077,4246,4188,4354,2090,629,3996,4119],"class_list":["post-9371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-forsters-terns","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-coastal","tag-fall","tag-forsters-tern-2","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-shoreline","tag-sterna-forsteri","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-water","tag-waves"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/forsters-tern-mia-mcpherson-5957.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2r9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"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":9371,"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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fortunate that some of the nonbreeding birds I used to see in Florida during the winter I now get to see in breeding plumage on their nesting grounds.","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 breeding plumage on nest","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/forsters-tern-nest-mia-mcpherson-2961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/forsters-tern-nest-mia-mcpherson-2961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/forsters-tern-nest-mia-mcpherson-2961.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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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