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!

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.

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.