Royal Terns with breeding plumage at Fort Desoto

The Fort Desoto Park is made of five islands in the St Petersburg area (Florida). It is one of the best birding spots on the Florida West coast to photograph shore birds. I would gladly take you there on a

Royal Tern portrait on the beach. This photograph was created in Fort Desoto Park, Florida.

ISO 640 | f/6.3 | 1/8000 | Manual Mode | AI servo rear focusing

This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review), the Canon EOS 5D mark III laying flat on the beach sand.

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I am very pleased with this creation. The background is as clean as it can be, the head angle is perfect and what a beautiful bird! How do you capture such a pose? The angle is of the utmost importance here. One needs to lay as low on the ground as possible, which will give this eye level perspective and help with a pleasing blur for background.

The photograph below is a Royal Tern shaking its wings.

Royal Tern shaking it off. This photograph was created in Fort Desoto Park, Florida.

ISO 640 | f/6.3 | 1/8000 | Manual Mode | AI servo rear focusing

This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review), the Canon EOS 5D mark III laying flat on the beach sand.

Created the soon after the first photograph, this Royal Tern’s pose. A lot of attitude!

Finally, the photograph below is a Royal Tern still with winter plumage in a landing maneuver.

Royal Tern landing amongst its peers. This photograph was created in Fort Desoto Park, Florida.

ISO 640 | f/6.3 | 1/6400 | Manual Mode | AI servo rear focusing

This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review), the Canon EOS 5D mark III handheld while seating on the sand.

You might notice that some of those birds still have winter plumage with patchy whites on their head. Tips: a great way to capture landings is to handhold your lens while seating on the ground and wait for the arrival of new comers in a flock of shorebirds on the ground.

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Steven