Flutter And Hold

At the same time I shot those oystercatchers, I also was keeping an eye on this tern as he hunted for some fish in the shallow water near the sandbar I was on. He'd hover in the air for a couple of seconds, something that few birds can do as effectively, and if he saw something, he'd dive in for it. I didn't catch him with anything in his beak, but I do recall he finally got something after he'd moved beyond the reach of my telephoto lens.

It was pretty amazing how he could change the pitch of his wings to hold himself in one spot as he hunted. Maybe not quite a graceful as a humming bird, but better than a lot of other species.

You could tell when he spotted something, his attention was suddenly locked on to something that was about to get eaten.

In this shot, you can get a small sense of where I was at, although the telephoto lens distorts the distance a great deal. That's the Sunshine Skyway bridge in the background, with the city of St. Petersburg rising out of the water behind it. I think it's maybe 9 miles to the bridge from where I was at, and twenty or more town. But the long lens makes it look as if you can reach out and grab it. The white dots in the water are birds gathered on another sandbar out in the bay.

More Birds On The Wing

Next up in tonight's feather-fest are some terns. Royal terns, I think.  Actually, this may all be the same tern, or it may be two individuals. I shot a lot of pictures as they flew back and forth looking for some dinner, and I didn't get his or her name.

These guys fly back and forth very quickly, pausing occasionally when something in the water catches their eye. When the right things catches their eye, they literally fall from the sky, diving into the water, more often than not emerging with their prey. Then they eat it on the wing, unless a seagull happens to spot them. If that happens, there's always a fight.

But I didn't see any gulls during this photo shoot, I was just happy to be able to track the terns as they flew back and forth.

There must not have been too many fish in the water, because I didn't get any shots of them diving.

Terns Tonight

I went out to the beach tonight for sunset, first time in quite a while I'd been out there. Sunset was a bust, but I got some good bird pictures. I especially liked this picture of a tern landing among a group of other terns. Pretty lucky that the focus was on the right bird at the right time.

Nice Hair

I caught these terns up at St. Pete Beach this weekend. This was about the last picture I got before the clouds blew in and ruined the picture taking for the rest of the day. I love these birds, though, with their funny little haircuts.