{"id":2186,"date":"2011-04-10T12:23:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-10T19:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2025-09-06T12:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T17:11:30","slug":"shorebirds-spotted-sandpipers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/04\/10\/shorebirds-spotted-sandpipers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorebirds: Spotted Sandpipers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper fluffing its feathers –\u00a0 Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Spotted Sandpipers are fun to watch as they walk along the shoreline as they teeter, bob and seem to bounce their rear ends and that motion does make them easy to identify even from a distance.<\/p>\n

In short flights they flap their wings in short bursts and then glide and the flight pattern is distinctive enough to also use for identification.<\/p>\n

In North America these sandpipers winter in the lower southern states and Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper\u00a0perched on oysters near the shoreline – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/160, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

Spotted Sandpipers are the most widespread shorebirds found in North America. They breed across most of the United States, up into Canada and Alaska though they do not breed in the high Arctic tundra.<\/p>\n

An unusual mating habit that Spotted Sandpipers exhibit is that it is the females who become aggressive to defend the mating territory and will often mate with three or males during the breeding period.<\/p>\n

They are coastal inhabitants and during migration and winter they can be found near freshwater, streams, beaches, rivers lake shorelines, ditches, small ponds seawalls and estuaries.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper in dappled light –\u00a0<\/strong>Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

All of the images I have presented in this post have shown the Spotted Sandpipers<\/span><\/a> in nonbreeding plumage. I’m hoping that since I now live within their breeding\u00a0range that I will be able to photograph\u00a0the sandpipers with their spotted breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Spotted Sandpipers are fun to watch as they walk along the shoreline as they teeter, bob and bounce their rear ends up and down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,504],"tags":[2209,4004,215,5229,5132,4309,5531,4077,4246,6928,4908,3521,992,4909,274,4188,2407,373],"class_list":["post-2186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-spotted-sandpipers","tag-actitis-macularia","tag-adult","tag-bird-id","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-fluffed-up","tag-gulf","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-oysters","tag-rip-rap","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-seawall","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-shoreline","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t