I was visiting one of my favorite shooting locations and was able to photograph a Black-Crowned Night Heron, a Great Blue Heron and a Common Tern. However, the Canadian wildfires produced a horrendous haze over the water. The smoke was both visible and acrid. Of all of the photos taken, I decided to submit the Common Tern after it successfully dove into the water and captured a small fish. These birds are very fast and are able to regain flight very fast and shake off the excess water from their wings in the air. The Common Terns are constantly in flight while hunting for food and also a beautiful bird to photograph.
The date was July 16, 2026 at 6:30 AM
Exif
Canon EOS R5 MK ll
200 800 mm
Handheld
Raw/Auto ISO
f/9
1/2500
ISO 3200
6 comments posted
Leslie Larson
Gorgeous tern. Capturing it after a dive with a fish was a real coup. The backlighting shining through the red bill and sharp wing feathers plus the fish is perfect. Nice reflection also. Well done! Posted: 08/02/2026 15:55:54
Michael Braunstein
What a capture! You might try to lighten the eye a little. I am surprised that the 200-800 is that good. Posted: 08/02/2026 16:42:57
Veysi Arcagok
You have perfectly captured both the prey and the hunter in the same frame. Congratulations. Posted: 08/07/2026 20:36:28
Mike Cowdrey
We get lots of these in UK, and I know it can be difficult to get good action shots like this one. I think it might benefit from a little lightening which may improve clarity without any white-out. Amazing that the high ISO works so well. I remember the good old days of slide film and ISO 100
and no autofocus! Great shot!
Posted: 08/14/2026 08:20:41
Jim Overfield
Beautiful capture of this turn in flight with a well defined fish in its beak. Everything in sharp focus. I like the water droplets and how interesting it is to see the shadow of the bone structure in the birds wing created by the back lighting. This is a great photo. Posted: 08/14/2026 20:32:13
Tom Buckard
Ted, this is another work of art image. The light certainly accentuate the mood. There are no distracting elements in the frame and was caught right at the peak of action. At first I thought it would be better with some of the bottom water cropped. So I cropped it but didn't like it any where near as much. Wouldn't change a thing. Posted: 08/16/2026 22:44:38
