Least Sandpiper In Kamas Valley
The most surprising and wonderful bird I saw and photographed on Thursday with my friend, April Olson, was a migrating Least Sandpiper in the Kamas Valley.
The most surprising and wonderful bird I saw and photographed on Thursday with my friend, April Olson, was a migrating Least Sandpiper in the Kamas Valley.
Why would I select a sandpiper photograph to express my Happy Father's Day wishes to all the dads out there?
Yesterday I spotted this Long-billed Curlew foraging and calling in the grasses of the north end of Antelope Island State Park.
When I look at this photo of a Willet in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico I can almost hear the sounds, taste the tang of salt in the air and feel the warm water on my skin.
I was looking through my older images and came across this one of a hatch year Spotted Sandpiper on some rocks at Bear River MBR.
I haven't seen any Spotted Sandpiper chicks in a location in the Wasatch Mountains where I normally see them at this time of the year but I have these from last summer.
I watched as the mink dashed across the shallow creek with the sandpiper in its jaws, climbed over a log, and out of my sight. That Spotted Sandpiper is no more.
What intrigued me the most was the post-coital posture of the female Spotted Sandpiper where she kept one wing raised for a long period of time.
Two days ago I photographed an adult Spotted Sandpiper foraging in Common Water-Crowfoot in a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
I took my first of season Spotted Sandpiper photos yesterday morning high in the Wasatch Mountains as I sat in my Jeep next to a creek.
Four years ago today stopping for a Golden Eagle perched on a power pole in Box Elder County would net me a rare Upland Sandpiper sighting because of the sandpiper's chattering call.
I was over the moon to be able to take these photos of the young Spotted Sandpiper swimming across the alpine creek because I've never had the opportunity to do so before.
Yesterday morning the first birds I spotted in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains were two tiny, butt bouncing Spotted Sandpiper chicks foraging on their own.
I haven't seen any Spotted Sandpiper chicks so far this breeding season but that doesn't mean they haven't hatched yet.
I don't often see Spotted Sandpipers perched in trees so I was enchanted when this one landed on the bare branches that hung over a slow flowing creek.
I was able to get back out into the field yesterday and I had a marvelous time photographing young Spotted Sandpiper chicks and learning more about their behaviors near a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
I was excited and enchanted by seeing and photographing at least two Spotted Sandpiper chicks yesterday morning near a creek up in the Wasatch Mountains.
I only had this Spotted Sandpiper in my view for about 24 seconds and I'd say more than half of that was spent flying around so I am glad that I was able to take this photo at all.
Two days ago while near the Weber River up in Summit County I heard a familiar sound and I knew from that sound that a Spotted Sandpiper was nearby.
It was a pleasure for me to see and photograph a Willet two days ago on Antelope Island State Park and this Willet even started calling which made it even more of a pleasure for me.
This morning I'm thinking back on warmer days where I took photos of Spotted Sandpipers on the Gulf Coast as they scurried among those oyster beds looking for food and somehow I feel just a little bit warmer looking at this photo and the howling wind doesn't seem quite so loud.
Four days ago I was able to take my first photographs of Long-billed Curlews this year on Antelope Island State Park and although I was disappointed in the quality of most of the images I took I enjoyed seeing these large sandpipers again.
Taking photographs of shorebirds at eye level was very fulfilling for me and the images that resulted from my down & dirty technique have always made me feel an intimate connection to the birds.
Shorebirds begin their fall migration early and for those of us who live in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem that means looking for them in the marshes around the lake and on the lake itself.
The movement and bird that caught my eye was a Spotted Sandpiper teetering on a rock right next to the water. I adore Spotted Sandpipers so I just had to take images of the butt bouncing bird.
What is really fascinating to me is that within two days of fledging Ruddy Turnstone chicks embark on their first migration to their wintering grounds.
I saw quite a few Long-billed Curlews yesterday wandering in the spring grasses and this time I was able to get nice images of them. Nicknames for Long-billed Curlews include "sicklebird" and "candlestick bird."
I'll be out photographing birds like this Willet foraging in the Gulf of Mexico, other wildlife and the beauty of nature.
I got to find, point out, and photograph a rare Upland Sandpiper in Utah well out of its normal migration route and range, what a day. What a find
I photographed this Solitary Sandpiper two days ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and saw several more and I also photographed a pair of them the week before.