Thalasseus maximus
Royal Terns are large terns with long yellow to orange bills, black legs, very light gray backs, white underparts, short forked tails and in breeding plumage they have jet black crests.
This image of a splashing and bathing Royal Tern in a Florida lagoon was taken nearly ten years ago and I'd never processed it until today.
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.
When I lived in Florida I was able to see and photograph juvenile Royal Terns on the Gulf Coast were they could be seen along the shoreline and they were usually begging the adults for food.
Every time I look at this tern image I laugh because my mind sees a tiny starfish stuck on the birds face that is actually its bill.
These two bathing Royal Tern images remind me of the warm April morning when I spent time photographing different species splashing around in the Gulf of Mexico.
This image was taken on a breezy April morning in 2009 at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach when I saw an aerial food fight occurring over the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
The majority of you voted for the correct answer: Juvenile Herring Gull, 1st winter Laughing Gull and Royal Tern
Just a simple post today to show the differences in the breeding and nonbreeding plumage of Royal Terns.
Yes, poop happens. If there are birds there is poop. That is the straight poop... I mean scoop!
Gray days sometimes force me to slow down, to take a deep breath and they allow me the luxury of liesurely looking through my older image files