{"id":3787,"date":"2011-12-04T11:08:19","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T17:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2025-07-05T15:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T20:19:40","slug":"piping-plover-and-semipalmated-plover-sunday-shorebirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/04\/piping-plover-and-semipalmated-plover-sunday-shorebirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Piping Plover and Semipalmated Plover – Sunday Shorebirds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 De Soto, Florida in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"Adult Adult Semipalmated Plover –\u00a0<\/strong> Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/800, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I could get caught up on my post processing and editing but I won’t hold my breath about that. These two files have been languishing in their folders for over 3 years.<\/p>\n

While I lived in Florida I very rarely took my 200-400mm VR lens to the beaches with me, I very clearly remember laying down on the sand to get eye level with these birds all the while worrying about what the sand could do to moving parts of my lens.<\/p>\n

I placed both elbows on the sand and used my left\u00a0hand to brace the lens from underneath\u00a0while I\u00a0used my right to operate the camera, I think getting up was the most difficult part because I didn’t want to put my hands in the sand.<\/p>\n

\"Mia Me on the beach of Fort De Soto getting images of the shorebirds on this post
\n\u00a9Al Wallace<\/span><\/p>\n

Photographer Al Wallace had walked up and taken a few pictures of yours truly (without me being aware) probably had a good laugh watching me get up from the gritty sugar sand. That’s ok, I can laugh at myself and the weird positions I get in to get images of my subjects.<\/p>\n

That is a floor buffing pad in front of me, I’ll never know how that ended up on the beach.<\/p>\n

*Be careful; you never know when your sneaky but wonderful photographer friends are photographing you while are so focused on your subject that you are totally unaware of what they are doing! And yes, I look pretty goofy in this photo.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"LowLow angle Piping Plover –\u00a0 Nikon d200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

By getting down to eye level with our feathered subjects the viewers often feel like they are part of the bird’s world, I know I do when I view images taken from low angles. I was almost too low for these pictures.<\/p>\n

Sand, water, ice or snow can light up the bottom of your subjects because of the\u00a0light being reflected upwards, Fort De Soto’s sugar sand\u00a0is great at that.<\/p>\n

So there you have it, a Piping Plover and Semipalmated Plover – my Sunday Shorebirds<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Piping Plover images plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Semipalmated Plover photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148312,"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":[27,25,704,276,2000,178,268],"tags":[4039,4021,1114,4261,14752,173,4036,4323,5841,275,3991,274],"class_list":["post-3787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-low-angle","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-piping-plovers","category-semipalmated-plovers","tag-beach","tag-bird-photography","tag-charadrius-melodus","tag-charadrius-semipalmatus","tag-coastal-island","tag-gulf-coast","tag-low-angle","tag-piping-plover","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-semipalmated-plover","tag-shorebirds-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-mia-mcpherson-1485.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Z5","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":3787,"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":5881,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/10\/layers-of-blue-semipalmated-plover\/","url_meta":{"origin":3787,"position":1},"title":"Layers of Blue – 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 "Birds"","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":4687,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/28\/semipalmated-plover-on-mudflats\/","url_meta":{"origin":3787,"position":2},"title":"Semipalmated Plover On Mudflats","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed Semipalmated Plovers in Florida I found that if I got down to their level and laid still they would approach me very closely. That takes patience but the effort is well worth it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandbar 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-florida-mia-mcpherson-8677.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-florida-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-florida-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/semipalmated-plover-florida-mia-mcpherson-8677.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":3787,"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":15391,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/13\/semipalmated-plover-small-in-frame-with-layers-of-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":3787,"position":4},"title":"Semipalmated Plover – 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 "Birds"","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, 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"Birds"","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 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