{"id":6034,"date":"2012-09-02T06:07:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T12:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6034"},"modified":"2025-07-13T10:23:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T15:23:28","slug":"bathing-laughing-gull-in-breeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/02\/bathing-laughing-gull-in-breeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Bathing Laughing Gull in breeding plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MataMata Hari bathing Laughing Gull – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this adult Laughing Gull in breeding plumage while it bathed in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto’s north beach a few years ago.<\/p>\n

I liked the action, the splashing water and how the flared wing tips appear to fan over the face of the gull.<\/p>\n

Some people may not like that the eye is slightly obscured by the one feather that goes through the bird’s eye but I do.<\/p>\n

In fact I know that a few other bird photographers didn’t care for this photo on an image critique forum. The let me know by commenting on my image when I shared it.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough those same photographers thought their photos of birds flying away without a view of the eyes at all<\/em> were acceptable and or visually appealing. Go figure.<\/p>\n

As a bird and wildlife photographer I find it important to have eye contact with my subjects; preferably with catch lights, but as with any rule in photography there are exceptions. Sometimes you should break those rules.<\/p>\n

And sometimes you should ignore other people’s opinions too.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I photographed this adult Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) in breeding plumage while it bathed in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto’s north beach a few years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150309,"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":[27,25,704,188,2000],"tags":[4004,5109,4373,4053,5229,5132,7755,173,4077,3539,521,3997,3995,4160,3996,5498],"class_list":["post-6034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-laughing-gulls-gulls","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-bath","tag-bathing","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-eye-contact","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-lagoon","tag-laughing-gull","tag-leucophaeus-atricilla","tag-water","tag-wings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-adult-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5537.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1zk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8739,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/29\/laughing-gulls-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":6034,"position":0},"title":"Laughing Gulls in breeding and nonbreeding plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Both of these Laughing Gull images were taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida, the image above shows a Laughing gull in nonbreeding plumage that was taken in September of 2008.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nonbreeding Laughing Gull, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/laughing-gull-non-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/laughing-gull-non-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Laughing Gulls are quite noisy when they are in a flock but I never minded listening to them, in fact they often made me laugh.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Laughing Gull in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/laughing-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-8988.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/laughing-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-8988.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/laughing-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-8988.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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