{"id":50990,"date":"2018-02-15T05:48:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T12:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50990"},"modified":"2025-07-08T16:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:25:09","slug":"black-bellied-plover-bathing-in-a-tidal-lagoon-on-the-gulf-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/15\/black-bellied-plover-bathing-in-a-tidal-lagoon-on-the-gulf-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-bellied Plover Bathing In A Tidal Lagoon On The Gulf Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BathingBathing Black-bellied Plover – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning I went back into my archives looking for something to share today and came up with these photos of a Black-bellied Plover I photographed on February 28, 2009 at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park.<\/p>\n

I had been photographing foraging Marbled Godwits while laying on my stomach in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon when this Black-bellied Plover flew in close to me.<\/p>\n

The bird proceeded to bathe in the warm waters of the lagoon not too far away from the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn’t resist photographing the plover as it bathed.<\/p>\n

Even though Black-bellied Plovers are far more striking in their breeding plumage I enjoyed seeing them in their nonbreeding plumage too.<\/p>\n

\"Black-belliedBlack-bellied Plover bathing in a lagoon – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The hood of my lens was just barely above the top of the water when I photographed this plover bathing and I recall keeping an eye out for sneaker waves with my left eye as I focused on the bird with my right eye through the viewfinder as I fired the shutter button.<\/p>\n

Sneaker waves can really mess up a camera if you don’t lift the camera up above them. That never happened to me but I know it has happened to other photographers that I know.<\/p>\n

Getting that low angle perspective with shorebirds near the water is important though even with a bit of risk involved.<\/p>\n

As I took photo after photo of the Black-bellied Plover bathing I was hoping to photograph the bird at the end of its bath because these plovers always finish off with a wing flap and a jump up above the water but unfortunately at the last second the plover turned its back to me when it completed its bath.<\/p>\n

After taking the quick bath in the tidal lagoon the Black-bellied Plover flew off towards the shoreline of the lagoon to shake and fluff its feathers until they were dry.<\/p>\n

At that point the plover was too far away to photograph it so I watched it from a distance before turning my lens back towards the godwits to take more photos of them. While I only had a only a brief encounter with this bird it was still fun to watch and photograph it.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

After taking the quick bath in the tidal lagoon the Black-bellied Plover flew off towards the shoreline of the lagoon to shake and fluff its feathers until they were dry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150100,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,87,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,5109,4373,4367,173,4077,4031,5841,275,4162,2688,4140,3996],"class_list":["post-50990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-bellied-plovers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-bath","tag-bathing","tag-black-bellied-plover","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-pluvialis-squatarola","tag-splashing","tag-tidal-lagoon","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-bathing-mia-mcpherson-6852.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dgq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19256,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/01\/a-few-quiet-moments-with-a-black-bellied-plover-at-low-tide\/","url_meta":{"origin":50990,"position":0},"title":"A Few Quiet Moments With A Black-bellied Plover At Low Tide","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shorebirds. They were what sparked my passion for bird photography. They were what drew me back to the Gulf Coast of Florida as much as I could be there.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-bellied Plover at low tide in the mudflats, 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-mudflats-mia-mcpherson-1101.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-mudflats-mia-mcpherson-1101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-mudflats-mia-mcpherson-1101.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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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Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-3138.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-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-3138.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-3138.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-3138.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6127,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/17\/black-bellied-plovers-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":50990,"position":4},"title":"Black-bellied Plovers in Breeding and Nonbreeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Black-bellied Plovers in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can look like two different plover species but they aren't.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy Black-bellied Plover in breeding plumage on the beach at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-bellied-plover-breeding-mia-mcpherson-4095.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-bellied-plover-breeding-mia-mcpherson-4095.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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