{"id":15764,"date":"2014-09-04T05:40:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15764"},"modified":"2025-09-21T05:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T10:48:59","slug":"a-morning-spent-at-fort-de-soto-six-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/04\/a-morning-spent-at-fort-de-soto-six-years-ago-today\/","title":{"rendered":"A Morning Spent At Fort De Soto Six Years Ago Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Black Skimmer scurrying up the shoreline<\/span><\/p>\n

Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.<\/p>\n

I started photographing birds right after the sun came up and this juvenile Black Skimmer scurrying up the shoreline was among the first birds I pointed my lens at.<\/p>\n

\"Sandwich<\/span><\/a>Sandwich Tern pair<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn’t long before I found myself photographing a pair of Sandwich Terns kind of having a fight over a driftwood perch.<\/p>\n

\"LoneLone Wood Stork at the north beach of Fort De Soto<\/span><\/p>\n

And then the largest wading bird on the beach that morning, a Wood Stork giving me the eye.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile American Oystercatcher in stormy light<\/span><\/p>\n

This American Oystercatcher juvenile was special to me, I had watched and photographed it since it was only two days old. It was always a delight to photograph it as it grew and flourished.<\/p>\n

\"FluffyFluffy Semipalmated Plover<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I photographed a few little plovers foraging, walking and fluffing their feathers on the sandy beach. This Semipalmated Plover had been preening and fluffed its feathers before heading out to forage.<\/p>\n

\"PipingPiping Plover and friend<\/span><\/p>\n

The Piping Plover wasn’t too far away from the Semipalmated Plover\u00a0as it foraged while heading down the beach, I like how in this image its size can be compared to the preening Sandwich Tern in the background.<\/p>\n

It was a delightful morning with the birds I love.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153392,"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":[19,27,253,25,704,2000,178,1860,268,353],"tags":[3974,4039,4021,3990,1114,4261,4077,22,4071,950,5988,3816,4194,4323,5841,275,4211,1861,3991,4891,4697,5117,5410,951,2090,629,3996,4119,4441],"class_list":["post-15764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-oystercatchers","category-avian","category-black-skimmers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-piping-plovers","category-sandwich-terns","category-semipalmated-plovers","category-wood-storks","tag-american-oystercatcher","tag-beach","tag-bird-photography","tag-black-skimmer","tag-charadrius-melodus","tag-charadrius-semipalmatus","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-haematopus-palliatus","tag-juvenile","tag-mycteria-americana","tag-oystercatcher","tag-oystercatchers","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-piping-plover","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-sandwich-tern","tag-semipalmated-plover","tag-shore","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-stork","tag-storks","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-water","tag-waves","tag-wood-stork"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-46g","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":15764,"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, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-fort-desoto-5817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-fort-desoto-5817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-fort-desoto-5817.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-fort-desoto-5817.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51532,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/06\/photographing-shorebirds-at-eye-level\/","url_meta":{"origin":15764,"position":2},"title":"Photographing Shorebirds at Eye Level","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking photographs of shorebirds at eye level was very fulfilling for me and the images that resulted from my down & dirty technique have always made me feel an intimate connection to the birds.","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffed up adult American Oystercatcher at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-beach-mia-mcpherson-6966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-beach-mia-mcpherson-6966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-beach-mia-mcpherson-6966.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-beach-mia-mcpherson-6966.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96771,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/29\/semipalmated-plover-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":15764,"position":3},"title":"Semipalmated Plover Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"While rifling through my archives I came across some of my Semipalmated Plover photos that I took on the north beach at Fort De Soto County Park in 2008.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Inquisitive Semipalmated Plover on the north beach, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/semipalmated-plover-head-turn-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/semipalmated-plover-head-turn-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/semipalmated-plover-head-turn-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/semipalmated-plover-head-turn-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26057,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/02\/the-use-of-decoys-for-colonial-nesting-seabirds-and-the-need-for-protected-nesting-areas\/","url_meta":{"origin":15764,"position":4},"title":"Use of Decoys for Colonial-nesting Seabirds and the Need for Protected Nesting Areas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2015","format":"chat","excerpt":"On an extremely hot April day I was out on Egmont Key for a Florida Master Naturalist class and from a distance I thought I saw some Black Skimmers and Least Terns resting on a beach but they turned out to be decoys.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Least Tern looking for breakfast at Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/least-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-1451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/least-tern-flight-mia-mcpherson-1451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low angle Piping Plover at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-mia-mcpherson-1485.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-mia-mcpherson-1485.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-mia-mcpherson-1485.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-mia-mcpherson-1485.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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