{"id":35305,"date":"2016-02-07T05:52:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T12:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35305"},"modified":"2025-02-08T11:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T17:18:02","slug":"an-alert-spotted-sandpiper-in-nonbreeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/07\/an-alert-spotted-sandpiper-in-nonbreeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"An Alert Spotted Sandpiper in Nonbreeding Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

This alert Spotted Sandpiper was photographed at Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> in January of 2009 as it walked down some rip rap towards the water. The tide was low that day and it exposed oysters that had attached to the rip rap and the sandpiper hurried around foraging for prey in the nooks and crannies of the seawall.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn alert Spotted Sandpiper – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at the shorebird in this image might make a person wonder why it is named a Spotted Sandpiper and that is because this bird is in nonbreeding plumage where they show very few, if any, spots during the winter. They do get spots during the breeding season<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Spotted Sandpipers walk or forage they bounce up and down and their tails teeter which has earned them the nick name of “teeter-tail”.\u00a0 I just call them bouncy butts. Chicks teeter not long after they hatch, the reason for the teetering is unknown.<\/p>\n

There have already been reports of Spotted Sandpipers this year in southwestern Utah and a few that are here in the Salt Lake area which means I will now be keeping an eye out for these bouncy shorebirds. I adore them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

This alert Spotted Sandpiper was photographed at Fort De Soto County Park in January of 2009 as it walked down some rip rap towards the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139562,"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":[27,25,704,2000,504],"tags":[2209,4004,4540,5229,5132,4246,4908,3521,992,4909,274,2407,373],"class_list":["post-35305","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-alert","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-rip-rap","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-seawall","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-8403.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9br","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9028,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/29\/spots-before-my-eyes-spotted-sandpipers-that-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":35305,"position":0},"title":"Spots Before My Eyes – Spotted Sandpipers That Is","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So I finally have images of the breeding plumage of this small shorebird that show the spots that gave this bird the name Spotted Sandpiper!","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nonbreeding Spotted Sandpiper in Florida. Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-florida-mia-mcpherson-8383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-florida-mia-mcpherson-8383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-florida-mia-mcpherson-8383.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-florida-mia-mcpherson-8383.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2186,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/04\/10\/shorebirds-spotted-sandpipers\/","url_meta":{"origin":35305,"position":1},"title":"Shorebirds: Spotted Sandpipers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Spotted Sandpipers are fun to watch as they walk along the shoreline as they teeter, bob and bounce their rear ends up and down.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper perched on oysters in some rip rap at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-perched-oysters-mia-mcpherson-florida-4707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-perched-oysters-mia-mcpherson-florida-4707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-perched-oysters-mia-mcpherson-florida-4707.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-perched-oysters-mia-mcpherson-florida-4707.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8294,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/05\/spot-the-sandpiper-on-the-seawall\/","url_meta":{"origin":35305,"position":2},"title":"Spot The Sandpiper On The Seawall","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It really isn't too hard to spot this Spotted Sandpiper on the seawall, I just thought it was a catchy title. I saw my FOY (first of year) Spotted Sandpiper this past week and that got me excited.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper on a seawall at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-8398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-8398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-8398.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-8398.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/08\/my-first-of-season-spotted-sandpiper-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":35305,"position":3},"title":"My First Of Season Spotted Sandpiper Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling adult Spotted Sandpiper, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-adult-stump-calling-mia-mcpherson-4590.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-adult-stump-calling-mia-mcpherson-4590.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-adult-stump-calling-mia-mcpherson-4590.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-adult-stump-calling-mia-mcpherson-4590.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55570,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-on-the-gulf-coast-thinking-back-on-warmer-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":35305,"position":4},"title":"Spotted Sandpiper On The Gulf Coast – Thinking Back On Warmer Days","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper on an exposed oyster bed, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in May I was delighted to photograph this fluffed-up Spotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage while I was near the water at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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