My Rare Mountain Plover Sighting Happened Almost Seven Years Ago

Mountain Plover male in breeding plumage – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

My rare Mountain Plover sighting happened almost seven years ago on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted, identified and photographed of the plovers during spring migration. When I first spotted the Mountain Plovers they were just tiny specks to the naked eye but their behavior clued me in to the fact that what they were was plovers. Their movement was my biggest clue.

Walk walk, stop. Walk walk, stop. I’d seen that behavior quite a few times while living in Florida and photographing on the beaches of the West Coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, I saw that behavior a lot.

At first I thought the birds might be Killdeer, the most likely plover species for the area, but the birds I was looking at seemed smaller and just a bit lighter than Killdeer would be so I scoped them with my camera lens and almost shouted when I saw that the plovers I was looking at were actually Mountain Plovers. A species I had been longing to see for a long time and rare to Utah at that.

The habitat I found these two Mountain Plovers in was short grasses in an open area, their preferred habitat but these two plovers had strayed from their normal spring migration route. I was elated that they had landed on Antelope Island while I was out there photographing curlews.

Other local birders and bird photographers were able to take joy in seeing these rare plovers because as soon as I could I sent an email out about them to UBIRD, a local bird list.

Resting female Mountain Plover – Nikon D300, f8, 1/1250, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

I spent from 8:20 am to 10:01 am with those rarities and when I went back home I submitted my sighting to the Utah Bird Records Committee and when later confirmed these plovers became the 10th vetted record of Mountain Plovers in Utah.

I took hundreds of photos of the male and female Mountain Plovers and I was extremely happy that I had great light and that the plovers were cooperative. They rested, foraged, ate, stretched and walked around in the short grasses. The plovers delighted me with every move they made.

Every April since I photographed them in 2013 I like to head out to Antelope Island to look for more Mountain Plovers to show up. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic this will be the first year I am unable to look for them on the island. Only residents of Davis County, Utah can visit that state park. I’m not a Davis County resident.

I have to wonder since these plovers winter in California and Arizona and breed to the north and east of Utah if they aren’t in Utah more often than we know, many areas of the state are under-birded. Maybe during spring migration they rest for a bit on golf courses and sod farms in Utah which would provide the low vegetation they prefer. I can’t get there to look for them this year though.

Perhaps I will drive over to the eastern side of Colorado during their breeding season one year and photograph these gorgeous “Ghosts of the Prairie” on their breeding grounds. I’ve put that on my bucket list. Seeing and photographing them once was terrific but now I want to see them again.

These photos were taken on April 10, 2013.

Life is good. Stay safe.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Mountain Plover photos plus facts and information about this species.