{"id":1504,"date":"2010-11-30T08:22:47","date_gmt":"2010-11-30T14:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1504"},"modified":"2025-07-08T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T18:07:21","slug":"black-bellied-plover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/30\/black-bellied-plover\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-bellied Plover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Black-belliedBlack-bellied Plover on the hunt – D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/250, ISO 200, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I love watching Black-bellied Plovers hunting. They take a few steps, stop, look and listen, then do it all over again. They look very different in breeding and nonbreeding plumage, this plover is in nonbreeding plumage.<\/p>\n

Black-bellied Plovers tend to associate with other shorebirds\u00a0on their winter grounds, you will often see them with willets, godwits, the small plovers, sandpipers, turnstones and sanderlings.<\/p>\n

Those species benefit from having black-bellied plovers in their midst because this species is a sentinel bird. They watch the skies and land for predators or intruders and when they feel threatened they sound a loud\u00a0alarm with their call. The other shorebirds pay heed to the alarm call and scatter to confuse the predators.<\/p>\n

This Black-bellied Plover image was taken in very early morning light as the plover hunted the mud flats, I really like the pose of the bird, the light and the setting.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black-bellied Plover photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love watching Black-bellied Plovers hunting. They take a few steps, stop, look and listen, then do it all over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,25,704,2000],"tags":[215,4021,4367,3970,3997,2339,4273,4031,275,4162,274],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-bellied-plovers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-bird-id","tag-bird-photography","tag-black-bellied-plover","tag-hunting","tag-lagoon","tag-mud-flats","tag-mudflats","tag-nonbreeding","tag-plovers","tag-pluvialis-squatarola","tag-shorebirds-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-mia-mcpherson-florida-3124.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-og","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6127,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/17\/black-bellied-plovers-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1504,"position":0},"title":"Black-bellied 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50990,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/15\/black-bellied-plover-bathing-in-a-tidal-lagoon-on-the-gulf-coast\/","url_meta":{"origin":1504,"position":3},"title":"Black-bellied Plover Bathing In A Tidal Lagoon On The Gulf Coast","author":"Mia 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