{"id":6127,"date":"2012-09-17T03:55:45","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T09:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6127"},"modified":"2025-03-28T12:57:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:57:23","slug":"black-bellied-plovers-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/17\/black-bellied-plovers-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-bellied Plovers in Breeding and Nonbreeding Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shorebirds are migrating south from their breeding grounds and sometimes the plumage differences can be remarkable, today I am sharing images of Black-bellied Plovers.<\/p>\n

\"AnBlack-bellied Plover in nonbreeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 370mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a photo of a Black-bellied Plover in nonbreeding plumage taken in Florida during the month of December of 2008, they are beautiful shorebirds and the largest plover of North America.<\/p>\n

\"FluffyFluffy Black-bellied Plover in breeding plumage on the beach – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Black-bellied Plover was photographed during the month of May in 2009 at Fort De Soto’s north beach, it is pretty close to being in full breeding plumage and probably soon after this image was created the plover would have made its way to the Arctic to nest.<\/p>\n

Black-bellied Plovers in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can look like two different plover species but they aren’t.<\/p>\n

I find the plumage differences amazing in these shorebirds.<\/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

P.S.: My mother is visiting me on her first trip to Utah, she is going to love it! I’ll be slow to view and comment on your blogs, thanks for understanding. Please feel free to share this post with your friends and family.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black-bellied Plovers in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can look like two different plover species but they aren’t. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142142,"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":[27,87,25,704,2000],"tags":[4051,4039,4367,4053,14752,4077,4246,5841,275,4162,4017,274],"class_list":["post-6127","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-adults","tag-beach","tag-black-bellied-plover","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coastal-island","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-pluvialis-squatarola","tag-sand","tag-shorebirds-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-bellied-plover-breeding-mia-mcpherson-4095.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1AP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1504,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/30\/black-bellied-plover\/","url_meta":{"origin":6127,"position":0},"title":"Black-bellied Plover","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I love watching Black-bellied Plovers hunting. 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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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County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.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-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/black-bellied-plover-fog-mia-mcpherson-1269.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50990,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/15\/black-bellied-plover-bathing-in-a-tidal-lagoon-on-the-gulf-coast\/","url_meta":{"origin":6127,"position":4},"title":"Black-bellied Plover Bathing In A Tidal Lagoon On The Gulf Coast","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bathing Black-bellied Plover, 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-bathing-mia-mcpherson-6852.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-bathing-mia-mcpherson-6852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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