{"id":40117,"date":"2016-06-23T04:39:19","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T10:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40117"},"modified":"2025-08-25T06:26:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:26:30","slug":"dreaming-of-oystercatchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/23\/dreaming-of-oystercatchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreaming of Oystercatchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAn American Oystercatcher on a sandy flat – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A friend and fellow photographer recently shared some images of Fort De Soto on Facebook which showed what the north beach looks like after Tropical Storm Colin went through.<\/p>\n

The images were more than a bit shocking to me because the beach has changed so much since last time I was there.<\/p>\n

Tropical Storm Colin did more damage to the beach than Hurricanes Ike and Gustav did in 2008 and they didn’t come ashore any where near Fort De Soto.<\/p>\n

The bridge I used to walk over to get from the parking lot to the beach is now a bridge over sand, the creek is gone.<\/p>\n

The lagoon I used to like to photograph birds at near the concession stand is mostly all sand. The dunes at the north tip are mostly gone.<\/p>\n

From Steve Leach’s images and other people’s images I have seen posted from after the storm, the north beach wouldn’t be recognizable to me today.<\/p>\n

Any how, I think the images jarred me and made me think about Fort De Soto and the birds I loved photographing there because last night I spent some time dreaming of oystercatchers.<\/p>\n

I could hear them in my dream and see them scurrying along the waves. I have missed them enough for them to visit me in my sleep, again, so I thought I’d post an image of one of them today.<\/p>\n

I photographed this preening American Oystercatcher on a sandy flat near one of the lagoons the end of February of 2009.<\/p>\n

As I recall there was a stiff sea\u00a0 breeze blowing which ruffled up the oystercatcher’s feathers.<\/p>\n

Some people might think American Oystercatchers are a bit odd looking but I always enjoyed seeing them with their long orange-red bills, bright yellow eyes, and their dark and white plumage.<\/p>\n

There are worse things to dream about so I really don’t mind dreaming of birds at all.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Last night I spent some time dreaming of oystercatchers. I could hear them in my dream and see them scurrying along the waves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153430,"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":[19,27,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,3974,4039,5257,8180,22,9926,3997,5988,3816,4019,9927,4017,274,9925],"class_list":["post-40117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-oystercatchers","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-american-oystercatcher","tag-beach","tag-dream","tag-dreaming","tag-haematopus-palliatus","tag-jarred","tag-lagoon","tag-oystercatcher","tag-oystercatchers","tag-preening-2","tag-ruffled","tag-sand","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-tropical-storm-colin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-preening-mia-mcpherson-6962.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ar3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":153665,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/08\/29\/american-oystercatcher-images-from-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":40117,"position":0},"title":"American 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"American Oystercatchers were among my favorite shorebirds to photograph at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach when I lived in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Oystercatcher with prey, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-mia-mcpherson-1300.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-mia-mcpherson-1300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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