{"id":35182,"date":"2016-02-01T05:58:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35182"},"modified":"2025-08-18T07:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T12:13:14","slug":"a-dunlin-running-along-the-shore-of-the-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/01\/a-dunlin-running-along-the-shore-of-the-gulf\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunlin Running Along The Shore Of The Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DunlinDunlin running along the shore of the Gulf – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

As many of you know shorebirds were my “spark” birds because they fired up my passion for photographing our feathered friends and that fire hasn’t been extinguished to this day.<\/p>\n

I didn’t spend as much time photographing shorebirds on Honeymoon Island State Park<\/span><\/a> as I did at Fort De Soto County Park primarily because Honeymoon Island SP didn’t open their gates until 8 am.<\/p>\n

That is kind of late most of the year to get that sweet golden light that we strive for in our images.<\/p>\n

If they had opened their gates as early as Fort De Soto County Park I would have spent much more time there on the beach with shorebirds instead of spending most of my time on the Osprey Trail.<\/p>\n

There were days though that the mosquitoes were so bad on Osprey Trail that I would give up and head to the beach even though the light was higher than I would have liked.<\/p>\n

One morning in May of 2008 I decided to skip the trail in the woods, and the mosquitoes, and head straight to the beach and walk to the northern most tip of Honeymoon Island.<\/p>\n

I was not disappointed at all by the birds I found foraging, resting and running about, including this Dunlin running along the shore of the Gulf.<\/p>\n

This Dunlin was just about finished molting into its breeding plumage and would have soon been on its way to the Arctic and sub-Arctic tundra to breed and raise its young.<\/p>\n

I was able to take a very nice series of images of this sandpiper as it dashed along the edge of the waves.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Dunlin photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

There are times I can see Dunlins here in Utah but I have never been able to get as close to them here as I was able to in Florida.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Dunlin was just about finished molting into its breeding plumage and would have soon been on its way to the Arctic and sub-Arctic tundra to breed and raise its young.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152610,"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":[27,232,25,468,2000],"tags":[4004,4039,4053,999,14752,396,13900,4902,173,4077,4148,4017,992,274,165,4901,4119],"class_list":["post-35182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-dunlins","category-florida","category-honeymoon-island-state-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-calidris-alpina","tag-coastal-island","tag-dunlin","tag-dunlins","tag-foam","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-running","tag-sand","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring","tag-surf","tag-waves"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-honeymoon-island-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-99s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5912,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/16\/dunlins-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":35182,"position":0},"title":"Dunlins In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Dunlins exhibit a vast difference between nonbreeding and breeding plumage, so different that a novice birder might mistakenly believe that they were two different species.","rel":"","context":"In "Dunlins"","block_context":{"text":"Dunlins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/dunlins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dunlin in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a simple image of a bathing Dunlin from May of 2009 taken at Fort De Soto County Park that brings back wonderful memories for me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bathing Dunlin, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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focusing on older posts that have shorebirds in them starting with Black-bellied Plovers.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-bellied Plover on a grassy dune at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-habitat-mia-mcpherson-2585.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-habitat-mia-mcpherson-2585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-habitat-mia-mcpherson-2585.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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