Royal Tern Tete a Tete

Royal Terns, Sterna maxima, Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, flying straight towards the camera.  There must have been a thousand birds up in the air cutting hairpin turns in unison!  This giant flock flew right over my head (thankfully not leaving any gifts on my baseball hat) and out over the ocean where they turned and bobbed over the waves.  I cropped this photo so you can see the details of the individual birds although it doesn't have the same effect as the original photo which captured hundreds of birds flying directly at the camera!

Terns in Flight

Terns in Flight, Tijuana Estuary Wildlife Preserve. I love watching the terns as they take off in huge, graceful flocks of white that zigzag through the sky! In the background, the air ripples in waves (in spite of it being a relatively cool day!).

Royalty

Royal Tern, Sterna maxima, San Diego, California. Royal terns on the hunt for fish. They glide up and down the surf zone, diving from the heights to catch small fish which they carry back for their young.

Seagull chasing a Tern. This seagull decided it was easier to intimidate a tern out of his rightfully caught fish than it was to catch one on his own. The seagull chased that tern for a long time and that tern was not giving in. I watched them fly off into the distance, the tern still holding on and found myself rooting for the tern. Sometimes nature mimics life.

Terns of Endearment

There is something magical about seeing a huge flock of birds go by. This picture is of a flock of Royal terns that would fly a large loop around the beach and then return to this one patch of sand to socialize (and perhaps breed?). There are somewhat larger cousins to the Least Terns pictured a little while back.

Royal Tern

I found this Royal Tern, Sterna maxima, diving for fish in the Mission River Preserve in San Diego. I love watching terns for their amazing grace and speed as well as their deadly accuracy.

Royal Tern

I found this Royal tern, Sterna maxima, hanging out with a flock of gulls. He's showing full breeding plumage. He allowed me to get close enough to snap a few pictures before flying off over the water. He's shown here stretching out his wings.