{"id":22234,"date":"2015-04-20T05:20:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=22234"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:10:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:10:03","slug":"sage-thrasher-bilateral-wing-display-and-courtship-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/20\/sage-thrasher-bilateral-wing-display-and-courtship-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Sage Thrasher Bilateral Wing Display and Courtship Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SageSage Thrasher Bilateral Wing Display – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I had my best opportunities thus far this year to photograph Sage Thrasher courtship behavior and bilateral wing displays on Antelope Island<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sage Thrasher was on the “wrong” side of the road for the best light but by being south of the thrasher the light was better than other opportunities I have had.<\/p>\n

\"SageSage Thrasher Courtship Display – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sage Thrasher sang almost continuously while it had its wings raised in this display.<\/p>\n

Birds of North America states this on their (paid subscription) site about this courtship behavior:<\/p>\n

These displays are only rarely seen, and only at low intensities, during renesting attempts or attempts at second nests later in season (TDR), suggesting that their role is largely one of courtship.<\/em><\/p>\n

Until this year I had never seen this courtship display on Antelope Island or anywhere else for that matter and this year I have seen and photographed it multiple times.<\/p>\n

I may have been away camping during the small window of time that the Sage Thrashers exhibit this behavior in previous years because I know I wouldn’t have missed it otherwise.<\/p>\n

Life sure is interesting when time is spent with birds!<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday I had my best opportunities thus far this year to photograph Sage Thrasher courtship behavior and bilateral wing displays on Antelope Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162877,"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":[511,27,1022,103,26],"tags":[4004,3538,3535,2158,11978,4347,4164,4003,165,4613,735],"class_list":["post-22234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-sage-thrashers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bilateral-wing-display","tag-courtship-behavior","tag-courtship-display","tag-desert-island","tag-mating-behavior","tag-oreoscoptes-montanus","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-spring","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8579.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5MC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36791,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/06\/sage-thrasher-in-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":22234,"position":0},"title":"Sage Thrasher in Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't get to see Greater Sage Grouse on my recent trip to southern Utah but I did get a few brief looks at another sagebrush obligate when a single Sage Thrasher popped up into view.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sage Thrasher in golden light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38209,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/12\/sage-thrasher-wing-flutter\/","url_meta":{"origin":22234,"position":1},"title":"Sage Thrasher Wing Flutter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this image yesterday that I took one day shy of a year ago while looking for another image in my files and thought that I would post it today because I like the wing position.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State 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7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had my first opportunity to photograph a Sage Thrasher with nesting materials in its bill on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sage Thrasher close up, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4034.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4034.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4034.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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The date is the earliest that I have seen and photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy Sage Thrasher adult warming up on a rock, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80469,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/05\/sage-thrashers-time-to-listen-for-their-march-melodies\/","url_meta":{"origin":22234,"position":5},"title":"Sage Thrashers – Time To Listen For Their March Melodies","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Sage Thrashers return to northern Utah in March and it is now time for me to start listening for their songs and melodies.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched adult Sage Thrasher, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-mia-mcpherson-2876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-mia-mcpherson-2876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-mia-mcpherson-2876.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-mia-mcpherson-2876.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}