{"id":28477,"date":"2015-09-25T06:08:41","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T12:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=28477"},"modified":"2024-09-16T06:47:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T11:47:08","slug":"a-lifer-for-me-pectoral-sandpiper-at-farmington-bay-wma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/25\/a-lifer-for-me-pectoral-sandpiper-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lifer for Me – Pectoral Sandpiper at Farmington Bay WMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PectoralPectoral Sandpiper in morning light – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It isn’t every day that I add a lifer to the list of shorebirds I have seen and photographed but yesterday I did when I saw and photographed a Pectoral Sandpiper. According to eBird Pectoral Sandpipers are rare at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert Pectoral Sandpiper – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Pectoral Sandpipers breed in northern Alaska, northern Yukon, Northern Territories and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in North America, they also breed in Russia. Their wintering grounds are on the pampas of Southern South America which means they can travel up to 30,000 miles each year.<\/p>\n

\"PectoralPectoral Sandpiper at Farmington Bay WMA – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Pectoral Sandpiper was associating with Killdeer, a few Greater Yellowlegs and a single Western Sandpiper when I first saw it but it very quickly moved away across the shallow water…<\/p>\n

\"PectoralPectoral Sandpiper in a marshy area of Farmington Bay – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And took cover in some grasses before it flew away. I believe this is a hatch year bird but since I am not familiar with this species I could be wrong. I wish this bird luck on its long migration!<\/p>\n

As I am fond of saying “You’ll never know (what you will see) unless you go”.<\/p>\n

I shipped my Nikon D810 to Los Angeles yesterday and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they get the rubber replaced on the memory card door and get it back to me quickly!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my shorebird photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It isn’t every day that I add a lifer to the list of shorebirds I have seen and photographed but yesterday I did when I saw and photographed a Pectoral Sandpiper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134673,"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":[27,1022,697,4649,26],"tags":[4540,970,4652,4620,4109,531,4094,9105,530,2213,4651,2191,3521,992,274,11433,4236,3996,4095],"class_list":["post-28477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-pectoral-sandpipers","category-utah","tag-alert","tag-autumn","tag-calidris-melanotos","tag-fall","tag-grasses","tag-lifer","tag-marsh","tag-marshy","tag-migration","tag-mud","tag-pectoral-sandpiper","tag-rarity","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-wading","tag-walking","tag-water","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pectoral-sandpiper-mia-mcpherson-2813.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7pj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":142947,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/17\/migrating-pectoral-sandpiper-in-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":28477,"position":0},"title":"Migrating 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McPherson","date":"October 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The only time I see Least Sandpipers here in Utah is when they are migrating through the Great Basin hub of the Pacific Flyway.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stretching Least Sandpiper at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/least-sandpiper-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3241.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/least-sandpiper-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3241.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/least-sandpiper-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3241.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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