{"id":41207,"date":"2016-08-21T05:42:50","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T11:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41207"},"modified":"2025-08-17T13:26:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T18:26:35","slug":"solitary-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/21\/solitary-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Solitary Sandpiper at Bear River MBR – Not All Range Maps Are The Same"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SolitarySolitary Sandpiper stretching – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Solitary Sandpipers have been migrating through northern Utah recently and I’m not the only ones seeing these sandpipers. Other friends in Utah have photographed them and asked me to ID them. 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. They aren’t all that uncommon in Utah during fall migration.<\/p>\n

The thing is that some of the range maps I have checked show Solitary Sandpipers as rare in Utah with them migrating several hundred miles to the east of this area. See this map<\/span><\/a> from Cornell University and my new Sibley’s Guide to Birds shows a similar map (which I won’t take a picture of because of copyright issues).<\/p>\n

However; my old American Museum of Natural History “Birds of North America<\/em>” and my National Geographic “Field Guide to the Birds of North America<\/em>” guides shows them as migrating through this area on their range maps. My iBird Pro app shows them migrating through this area but my Audubon app shows conflicting results with the first map showing them as common during migration and the second range map they have for Solitary Sandpipers doesn’t show them migrating through Utah. A little confusing, right?<\/p>\n

My point is that when trying to use range maps to identify some species of birds you may need to check several sources to get a better idea of where a specific bird species might be found using a range map. That seems to be the case with Solitary Sandpipers any way.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152498,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,2621,26],"tags":[4004,5190,4094,530,5374,5375,3521,992,274,2622,3964,2315,2623,4095],"class_list":["post-41207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-solitary-sandpipers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ephemeral-pond","tag-marsh","tag-migration","tag-muddy-feet","tag-range-maps","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-solitary-sandpiper","tag-stretching","tag-summer-3","tag-tringa-solitaria","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solitary-sandpiper-stretching-mia-mcpherson-1937.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aID","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93117,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/10\/hatch-year-spotted-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":41207,"position":0},"title":"Hatch Year Spotted Sandpiper at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hatch year Spotted Sandpiper, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-immature-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-9116.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-immature-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-9116.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pectoral-sandpiper-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pectoral-sandpiper-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pectoral-sandpiper-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pectoral-sandpiper-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115306,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/20\/least-sandpiper-in-kamas-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":41207,"position":2},"title":"Least Sandpiper In Kamas Valley","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Least Sandpiper in the Kamas Valley of Utah, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/least-sandpiper-kamas-valley-mia-mpcherson-7890.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/least-sandpiper-kamas-valley-mia-mpcherson-7890.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/least-sandpiper-kamas-valley-mia-mpcherson-7890.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/least-sandpiper-kamas-valley-mia-mpcherson-7890.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46609,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/05\/teetering-spotted-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":41207,"position":3},"title":"Teetering Spotted Sandpiper at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper next to the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.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-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2014","format":false,"excerpt":"On my recent trip to Idaho and Montana I was delighted to photograph a foraging Solitary Sandpiper in a farm pond in Beaverhead County, MT.","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":"Foraging Solitary Sandpiper, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solitary-sandpiper-adult-montana-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solitary-sandpiper-adult-montana-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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