{"id":15273,"date":"2014-06-25T04:59:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T10:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15273"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T21:22:12","slug":"six-years-ago-today-pelicans-godwits-and-dowitchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/25\/six-years-ago-today-pelicans-godwits-and-dowitchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Years Ago Today – Pelicans, Godwits And Dowitchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Short-billed<\/span><\/a>Short-billed Dowitcher feeding on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Six years ago today I was sand crawling on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto’s north beach photographing pelicans, godwits and dowitchers plus other birds.<\/p>\n

The water was choppy that day and there was a strong sea breeze coming in off of the water but that didn’t stop the birds from their normal activity nor did it stop me from flopping down in the wet sand with my lens aimed at the winged wonders before me.<\/p>\n

This Short-billed Dowitcher kept one eye on me as it probed the sand with its bill looking for prey. Even though it was June this bird didn’t show any sign of being in breeding plumage but I love their nonbreeding plumage too.<\/p>\n

\"BrownBrown Pelican in the surf\u00a0– Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This adult Brown Pelican landed on a barely exposed sandbar in front of me and preened for a bit and then fluffed up its wet feathers. The pelican had probably been diving for fish before it came into rest and preen.<\/p>\n

\"MarbledMarbled Godwit foraging on the Gulf Coast\u00a0– Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There were loads of Marbled Godwits on the shoreline foraging for food and as I laid in the sand they would approach me as they probed into the sand looking for tiny Coquinas to swallow.<\/p>\n

I like to look back into my files some times to see what I was photographing, just a nice walk down my own personal memory lane. It was a wonderful morning on the north beach!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six years ago today I was sand crawling on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto’s north beach photographing pelicans, godwits and dowitchers plus other birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152518,"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":[27,143,25,704,88,2000,1422],"tags":[3994,4040,4136,4077,4355,4163,4419,4158,4019,1423],"class_list":["post-15273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-brown-pelicans","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-marbled-godwits","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-short-billed-dowitchers","tag-brown-pelican","tag-feeding","tag-foraging","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-limnodromus-griseus","tag-limosa-fedoa","tag-marbled-godwit","tag-pelecanus-occidentalis","tag-preening-2","tag-short-billed-dowitcher"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-feeding-mia-mcpherson-4539.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Yl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/07\/missing-fort-de-soto\/","url_meta":{"origin":15273,"position":0},"title":"Missing Fort De Soto","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Some days I find myself missing Fort De Soto so much it hurts, the birds I found there and the entire experience of just being there. It is just such an amazing place, how could I not miss it?","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marbled Godwit and Dowitcher friends, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/marbled-godwit-dowitchers-mia-mcpherson-3147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/marbled-godwit-dowitchers-mia-mcpherson-3147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/marbled-godwit-dowitchers-mia-mcpherson-3147.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/marbled-godwit-dowitchers-mia-mcpherson-3147.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50757,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/23\/short-billed-dowitcher-foraging-in-sargassum-on-the-wrack-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":15273,"position":1},"title":"Short-billed Dowitcher Foraging in Sargassum on the Wrack Line","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This Short-billed Dowitcher slowly made its way through the Sargassum on the wrack line as I laid in the damp sand photographing it and the other shorebirds that were searching the seaweed for food.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher in Sargassum, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4794,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/17\/short-billed-dowitcher\/","url_meta":{"origin":15273,"position":2},"title":"Short-billed Dowitcher","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Short-billed Dowitchers feed on insects, crustaceans and aquatic mollusks. Quite often when I lived in Florida I would see them feeding on Coquinas which are small bivalves or tiny Fiddler Crabs.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher at the edge of a tidal lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-mia-mcpherson-5516.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-mia-mcpherson-5516.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-mia-mcpherson-5516.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-mia-mcpherson-5516.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6850,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/20\/short-billed-dowitcher-on-the-wrack-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":15273,"position":3},"title":"Short-billed Dowitcher On The Wrack Line","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Short-billed Dowitcher and the out of focus Sanderling the day after a storm had pushed mounds of Sargassum seaweed onto the wrack line and the birds were busy looking for food within it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher on seaweed, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21987,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/15\/a-marbled-godwit-feeding-on-the-shore-of-the-gulf\/","url_meta":{"origin":15273,"position":4},"title":"Marbled Godwit feeding on the shore of the Gulf","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Marbled Godwits are migrating through Utah on their way to their breeding grounds right now so I thought I'd feature this one on my post today.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Marbled Godwit feeding on the shore of the Gulf","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/marbled-godwit-florida-mia-mcpherson-1189.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/marbled-godwit-florida-mia-mcpherson-1189.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/marbled-godwit-florida-mia-mcpherson-1189.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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