{"id":16244,"date":"2014-10-24T04:30:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T10:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=16244"},"modified":"2025-07-06T08:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T13:50:12","slug":"a-semipalmated-plover-with-its-eye-on-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/24\/a-semipalmated-plover-with-its-eye-on-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Semipalmated Plover with its eye on me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-149846 size-full\" title=\"Gulf shore Semipalmated Plover, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537.jpg\" alt=\"Gulf shore Semipalmated Plover, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"543\" data-id=\"16246\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27543%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20543%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27543%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537-200x128.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537-400x256.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537-460x295.jpg 460w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537-600x383.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537-768x491.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Gulf shore Semipalmated Plover &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This morning I wanted to keep my post simple and how much more simple could this image of a Semipalmated Plover with its eye on me be?<\/p>\n<p>I photographed this small plover while laying still on the wet sand and allowed the plover to slowly approach me.\u00a0 A friend and I basically had the north beach of Fort De Soto to ourselves and the birds weren&#8217;t being bothered by walkers, beach combers or shell seekers and all of the birds seemed calmer and less skittish.<\/p>\n<p>It means a lot to me when birds approach me instead of the other way around because I feel accepted, honored and my connection to nature feels even stronger.<\/p>\n<p>We are all part of nature.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/semipalmated-plover-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Semipalmated Plover photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning I wanted to keep my post simple and how much more simple could this image of a Semipalmated Plover with its eye on me be? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149846,"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":[27,25,704,2000,268],"tags":[4004,4261,5229,5132,5767,4077,5841,275,4017,3991,4891,3975,2315,1824],"class_list":["post-16244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-semipalmated-plovers","tag-adult","tag-charadrius-semipalmatus","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-eye","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-sand","tag-semipalmated-plover","tag-shore","tag-shorebird","tag-summer-3","tag-wet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-curious-mia-mcpherson-7537.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4e0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15391,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/13\/semipalmated-plover-small-in-frame-with-layers-of-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":16244,"position":0},"title":"Semipalmated Plover &#8211; Small In Frame With Layers Of Color","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo of a Semipalmated Plover on the shore of the Gulf was purposely photographed so that the plover would be small in the frame","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shoreline Semipalmated Plover, 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-beach-pano-7897.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-beach-pano-7897.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-beach-pano-7897.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-beach-pano-7897.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/02\/gotta-love-those-shorebirds-semipalmated-plover\/","url_meta":{"origin":16244,"position":1},"title":"Gotta Love Those Shorebirds &#8211; Semipalmated Plover","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Semipalmated Plover as it foraged along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida in 2008 while I laid flat on the wet sand getting soaked as the waves pushed onto the shore around the sand bar in the distance.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fort De Soto Semipalmated Plover, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-7895.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-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-7895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-7895.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-7895.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":16244,"position":2},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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":50780,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/28\/foraging-semipalmated-plover-in-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":16244,"position":3},"title":"Foraging Semipalmated Plover in Florida","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Among my favorite plovers to photograph when I lived in Florida were Semipalmated Plovers, I only saw them during their nonbreeding season where they spent time along the Gulf coast.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Semipalmated Plover with marine worm, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/semipalmated-plover-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/semipalmated-plover-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/semipalmated-plover-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/semipalmated-plover-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5881,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/10\/layers-of-blue-semipalmated-plover\/","url_meta":{"origin":16244,"position":4},"title":"Layers of Blue &#8211; Semipalmated Plover","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I like the ribbons of different shades of blue in this image and even though the Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) is small in the frame it stands out well from its habitat.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Semipalmated Plover on the Gulf coast, 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-8683.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-8683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-mia-mcpherson-8683.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-8683.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3787,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/04\/piping-plover-and-semipalmated-plover-sunday-shorebirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":16244,"position":5},"title":"Piping Plover and Semipalmated Plover &#8211; Sunday Shorebirds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When I am out in the field I take a large amount of photos and there are times I don't get around to processing them until much later, these are two such images taken at Fort DeSoto, Florida in 2008.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","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 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}