{"id":15800,"date":"2014-09-10T03:22:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T09:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15800"},"modified":"2016-12-07T12:09:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:09:00","slug":"wilsons-plover-at-sunrise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/10\/wilsons-plover-at-sunrise\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson’s Plover at sunrise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wilson's<\/a>Wilson’s Plover at sunrise – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days ago when I posted an American Oystercatcher<\/a> I mentioned that some shorebirds were year round residents at Fort De Soto and that others were migrants. Wilson’s Plovers are year round residents that I photographed every month of the year while I lived in Florida. Wilson’s Plovers nest at Fort De Soto and I have been fortunate to see and photograph their young (from a respectful distance of course).<\/p>\n

Killdeer and Wilson’s Plovers look similar in appearance but Wilson’s Plovers have a single breast band and Killdeer have two. Killdeer are also larger.<\/p>\n

The tide was out the morning I photographed this Wilson’s Plover just after the sun had come up. There are some photographers that would have passed on photographing this plover because they don’t care for the muddy setting but I love to photograph birds in their natural settings even if that includes mud. It is\u00a0their habitat.<\/p>\n

I was covered in mud after laying\u00a0in the mudflat to photograph this\u00a0Wilson’s Plover\u00a0and I didn’t mind a bit.<\/p>\n

Another shorebird to honor World Shorebirds’ Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

I’m probably watching the sunrise in a the wilderness. Feel free to share!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was covered in mud after laying in the mudflat to photograph this Wilson’s Plover and I didn’t mind a bit. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15799,"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":[27,25,704,269],"tags":[4004,4058,4021,4471,4035,3980,4190,4032,361],"class_list":["post-15800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-wilsons-plovers","tag-adult","tag-anarhynchus-wilsonia","tag-bird-photography","tag-bird-watching","tag-nature-photography","tag-pinellas-county","tag-sunrise","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-wilsons-plover"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/wilsons-plover-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3878.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-46Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1106,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/10\/16\/shorebirds-of-fort-desoto-the-plovers\/","url_meta":{"origin":15800,"position":0},"title":"Shorebirds of Fort DeSoto – The Plovers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Throughout the year you can see and photograph many different species of Plovers on Fort De Soto\u2019s beaches, tidal lagoons and spartina marshes.","rel":"","context":"In "Black-bellied Plovers"","block_context":{"text":"Black-bellied Plovers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/black-bellied-plovers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Semipalmated Plover in early morning light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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":1586,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/12\/08\/wilsons-plover\/","url_meta":{"origin":15800,"position":1},"title":"Wilson’s Plover","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There are times that I open an image on my computer screen and I can't help but laugh. This is one of those images for me because of the tilt of the head of the Wilson's Plover.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Wilson's Plover with an eye on the sky","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-eye-on-sky-1144.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-eye-on-sky-1144.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-eye-on-sky-1144.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-eye-on-sky-1144.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-juvenile-florida-fort-desoto-6900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-juvenile-florida-fort-desoto-6900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-juvenile-florida-fort-desoto-6900.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/wilsons-plover-mia-mcpherson-juvenile-florida-fort-desoto-6900.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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distance opportunity to photograph and observe these Wilson's Plovers and chicks, it was a small window into their life.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Wilson's Plover chicks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wilsons-plover-chicks-mia-mcpherson-6900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wilsons-plover-chicks-mia-mcpherson-6900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wilsons-plover-chicks-mia-mcpherson-6900.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wilsons-plover-chicks-mia-mcpherson-6900.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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