Caspian Terns 2013

[Bill Anderson]

Caspian terns are one of my favorite birds, but I seldom get an opportunity to photograph them under optimal conditions. Such an opportunity presented itself around 5:00pm Saturday (6/15) when the terns made a rare daylight, close up appearance diving for fish in Puget Sound off Sunset Ave. in Edmonds, WA.

While this may seem like a lot of photos, I deleted several hundred others.

Dive #1

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #1 concluded.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #2.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #2 concluded.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #3:

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #3 concluded.










There are 20 more photos of two more dives. Do you want to see them or have you had enough?

I believe that one good tern deserves another, but others may not be so inclined.

 

[Terry O]

You are the master of these shots, Bill. I was there later in the evening and they were also flying close, but the sun angle was just horrible. I was tempted to get out the 500 but decided not to because of the lighting.

 

[Bill Anderson]

More dives from Saturday.

Dive #4
Terns will often pass over the water, then abruptly go into a steep bank and dive.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive #4, conclusion






More often than not, the tern comes up empty-billed.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Final dive sequence






The tern hits the water like a javelin.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Final dive sequence, conclusion








I have seen some birds, including terns, rotate their heads 180* in flight.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Saturday I was extremely fortunate to have a combination of good light + the terns diving fairly close to the shore. The light was not as good Sunday (6/16) near sunset and the terns were farther out.

This tern looked very pretty against the background of the west side of Puget Sound.




Dive sequence

 

[Bill Anderson]

Dive sequence, conclusion


The tern came up with dinner.






If the terns are making a habit of diving at this particular spot close to sunset, I'll try to get down the the jetty at Brackett's Landing and get photos viewing them from the opposite direction.

 

[Christine]

Awesome diving shots!!

 

[L.L. Heim.]

Those are amazingly crisp shots! I'm guessing you were on burst mode, but what shutter speed were you using?

 

[Bill Anderson]

Those are amazingly crisp shots! I'm guessing you were on burst mode, but what shutter speed were you using?

You are correct about my shooting in burst mode. I was using a shutter speed of 1/1000, which is my basic default shutter setting. Terns, osprey, and eagles glide more than they flap, so it is not necessary to use a very fast shutter speed to freeze the wings.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Monday evening (7/1) I was up on Sunset Ave. to photograph the sunset when some noisy terns flew in to fish. Terry assures me they sound like pterodactyls.

I had the 5D Mk III + 24-105L zoom mounted on a tripod in order to use the camera's HDR mode for the sunset shots, so I used the 7D + 100-400L zoom hand held to photograph the terns. I knew it was too dark and the terns were too far away for good dive sequences, so I tried to get shots of the terns the terns against the background of the Olympic Mountains,




Puget Sound,


and the sunset.

 

[Bill Anderson]

I managed to get a few terns in the sunset shots I took with the 5D Mk III + 24-105L zoom.




After the sun went down, I swapped lens and cameras and took some shots using the 5D Mk III + 100-400L zoom.

 

[Terry O]

Those were some beauties, Bill!

 

[Bill Anderson]

The Caspian terns never dive in the waters of Puget Sound off Edmonds until sunset, when it is nearly impossible to photograph them.

Here are some artsy/surreal/ethereal shots from Ocean Ave. on Thursday (7/18) evening.