{"id":4997,"date":"2012-05-15T03:55:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T09:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4997"},"modified":"2025-03-09T10:53:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T15:53:25","slug":"sidelit-piping-plover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/15\/sidelit-piping-plover\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidelit Piping Plover"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was photographing one evening in Florida while laying in the mudflat of a tidal lagoon, there were Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers and Greater Yellowlegs in front of me where the evening light was great.<\/p>\n

\"SidelitSidelit Piping Plover – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a bit of movement and turned my head towards what I could see was a Piping Plover looking for prey in the mudflats.<\/p>\n

The light was not what most photographers would call “great<\/em>“, the plover was below a dune and the angle of the sun in the west caused the bird to be sidelit.<\/p>\n

Some photographers would pass on the shot because of the “tough”, “harsh” or “contrasty” light, but I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Even though the sun wasn’t behind my shoulder and the light wasn’t golden this image has a great mood to it.<\/p>\n

I know I could have used flash to brighten up the bird and the setting but if I had it certainly would not be this moody, besides; I very rarely use flash.<\/p>\n

This Piping Plover image reminds me to try to photograph birds in other than perfect light. Sidelit and\u00a0backlit images can be spectacular so I don’t like passing up taking the chance that I might just get a great shot despite\u00a0what some photographers think of as bad\u00a0light.<\/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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Piping Plover image reminds me to try to photograph birds in other than perfect light. Sidelit and backlit images can be spectacular so I don’t like passing up taking the chance that I might just get a great shot despite what some photographers think of as bad light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141396,"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":[27,25,276,178],"tags":[4021,4083,1114,37,4035,1531,3980,1376,4387,4032],"class_list":["post-4997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-low-angle","category-piping-plovers","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-charadrius-melodus","tag-florida-2","tag-nature-photography","tag-opportunities","tag-pinellas-county","tag-side-light","tag-sidelit","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/piping-plover-sidelit-mia-mcpherson-5440.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1iB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4571,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/01\/piping-plover-down-dirty\/","url_meta":{"origin":4997,"position":0},"title":"Piping Plover – Down & Dirty","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Piping Plovers nest in shallow scrapes in sand, gravel, salt flats or dunes which leaves their nests vulnerable to predators and in danger of being accidentally stepped on.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Piping Plover at the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-summer-feeding-mia-mcpherson-9726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-summer-feeding-mia-mcpherson-9726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-summer-feeding-mia-mcpherson-9726.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-summer-feeding-mia-mcpherson-9726.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8803,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/04\/piping-plovers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4997,"position":1},"title":"Piping Plovers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Piping Plovers are small, sparrow sized shorebirds that are endangered and threatened in most of their range primarily due to human disturbance on their nesting grounds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Curious Piping Plover, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-florida-mia-mcpherson-9201.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-florida-mia-mcpherson-9201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-florida-mia-mcpherson-9201.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":[]},{"id":9981,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/26\/piping-plover-on-the-shore-of-the-gulf-of-mexico-900th-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":4997,"position":3},"title":"Piping Plover on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico – 900th Post","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Shorebirds; like this tiny Piping Plover I photographed on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, are the primary reason I became addicted to bird photography.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Piping Plover on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-florida-gulf-mia-mcpherson-9730.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-florida-gulf-mia-mcpherson-9730.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-florida-gulf-mia-mcpherson-9730.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/piping-plover-florida-gulf-mia-mcpherson-9730.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35959,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/21\/piping-plover-on-a-shell-covered-beach-in-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":4997,"position":4},"title":"Piping Plover On A Shell Covered Beach In Florida","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this image of the Piping Plover on a shell covered beach right after the sun came up when the light had that sweet golden tone to it","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Piping Plover on a shell covered beach at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-beach-mia-mcpherson-6381.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-beach-mia-mcpherson-6381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-beach-mia-mcpherson-6381.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/piping-plover-beach-mia-mcpherson-6381.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1106,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/10\/16\/shorebirds-of-fort-desoto-the-plovers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4997,"position":5},"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, 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