![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/caspian-tern-4193-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"caspian-tern-4193-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday I finally got some pretty decent flight shots of the world’s largest tern.<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n On several recent mornings I’ve tried to photograph Caspian Terns in flight but until yesterday I’ve always been stymied by circumstance. As they fished they always made counterclockwise rotations around the pond and by the time they got close enough to me they were in sidelight with their face in shade. That unfortunate fishing flight pattern never failed.<\/p>\n Until yesterday when, for some unknown reason (breeze coming from a different direction?), they occasionally turned to the southwest for a few moments as they got close to me, before turning back to the southeast. And that fortunate ‘turn’ of events (bad pun intended) allowed me to get a few shots with light on their face while they were ‘close enough’.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n One of the other problems I faced, one typical of terns of various species in flight, was getting light in their eyes. That black eye, set in the jet black feathers of the tern’s cap, is the epitome of a “photon-sucking” situation that makes getting a catch light in the eye very difficult. I got dozens of photos lacking a catch light that were otherwise pretty good<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Caspian Terns, the largest terns in the world, are also distinguished by their harsh, raspy vocalizations and massive coral red bills. They’ve been described as \u201c the king of all the terns… the dominant ruling spirit in the colonies… the largest, strongest and fiercest of the terns.\u201d<\/p>\n In this photo that big red bill stands out nicely against the shaded underwing.<\/p>\n The last problem I faced with the terns at the pond was that they were always flying too high for the types of flight shots I prefer. So for me this season, flight shots of Caspian Terns in flight are still a work in progress.<\/p>\n To get any better photos of them I’ll probably have to get lucky with a tern immediately after a dive for a fish<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: The distribution of Caspian Terns in North America is spotty and scattered so I suspect many of my readers have never seen them. If you’d like to become more familiar with them, the video I’ve linked to in the last sentence in my post is pretty darn good – especially regarding ‘plunge-diving’.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I finally got some pretty decent flight shots of the world’s largest tern. (3 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/caspian-tern-3956-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"caspian-tern-3956-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/caspian-tern-4191-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"caspian-tern-4191-ron-dudley\\"")
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