{"id":41632,"date":"2016-09-01T04:44:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T10:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41632"},"modified":"2025-08-30T04:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T09:08:36","slug":"rare-upland-sandpiper-sighting-in-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/01\/rare-upland-sandpiper-sighting-in-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"My Rare Upland Sandpiper Sighting in Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I read an email from someone I used to know about the birds migrating through Florida right now, and it mentioned Upland Sandpipers that are currently being found there.<\/p>\n

I felt a bit wistful because I have wanted to see that species and always missed them when they were in Florida, and also because they are rare here in Utah.<\/p>\n

I had no<\/em> idea that later in the morning I would find an Upland Sandpiper while on my way to Golden Spike National Historic Area.<\/p>\n

\"UplandUpland Sandpiper in Box Elder County, Utah – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

We stopped to take images of a Golden Eagle that was perched on a power pole next to the road that goes to Golden Spike if you go left, or Locomotive Springs if you go straight. I’ve been photo-blocked when it comes to Golden Eagles, and they continue to be a nemesis bird for me, so I hoped to get lift-off and flight images of it.<\/p>\n

And then I heard a chattering bird call I didn’t recognize, so I started looking around to locate the bird making the sound, and I found it high on the power pole right next to where we had parked along the road.<\/p>\n

Listen to an Upland Sandpiper chattering here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SideSide view of Upland Sandpiper rarity in Utah – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

So I looked at it through my lens, and my heart skipped a beat, well not really, it began to race. I had what I believed to be an Upland Sandpiper in my viewfinder! I took a burst of images of it immediately because I thought it would fly away if the eagle even moved.<\/p>\n

Suddenly the Golden Eagle, my nemesis, didn\u2019t matter anymore.<\/p>\n

I wanted to report it to the bird listserv so other people could possibly find it, so I wanted to be sure that I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.<\/p>\n

I took several images of the bird as it called and raised its wings, then I grabbed my copy of Sibley\u2019s Guide to Western Birds and looked at the page with Upland Sandpipers and the page with Buff-breasted Sandpipers, two species I knew looked similar, both of which are rare here in Utah.<\/p>\n

Comparing them reaffirmed my ID, but I wanted to be even more certain, so I looked up Upland Sandpiper on my phone using my iBird Pro app, and again it appeared that my ID was correct.<\/p>\n

The Upland Sandpiper was chattering the whole time, and I suspect it was doing that because of the close proximity of the Golden Eagle. A car had come up behind us, and before it got close we moved backwards away from the sandpiper.<\/p>\n

I took that opportunity to look up the calls of Upland Sandpipers on my app and decided to listen very quietly to the chattering call recording, and as soon as I hit play I could tell the sound was exactly the same.<\/p>\n

I want to be very<\/em> clear here, I didn\u2019t use playback to attract the bird, just to confirm that the chattering calls were the same.<\/p>\n

I shut off the playback, took a cell phone shot of my camera LCD with the sandpiper showing, and composed a quick email to send to the Utah Bird listserv.<\/p>\n

I clicked send and took more images of the sandpiper after we moved back to where we were closer. I have to say, my hands were shaking as I typed out the email, and I probably could have said more, but I wanted more images of the bird.<\/p>\n

\"UplandUpland Sandpiper with raised wings – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Golden Eagle flew off, we decided to leave the sandpiper and head to the visitor center at the Golden Spike National Historic Area to let the rangers there know about this rare bird in case they wanted to see it or tell the visitors about it.<\/p>\n

By the time we drove back to where the Upland Sandpiper had been, the Golden Eagle had returned and landed on another power pole, and the sandpiper was gone.<\/p>\n

After driving twice through that area, looking at every fence post and the tops of the sagebrush, and even with my sharp eyes I could not relocate it.<\/p>\n

As a bird photographer I have to say that I wish the bird had been in better light, on a prettier perch, and at eye level, but I am still happy with the documentary images I took.<\/p>\n

I was still buzzing about the find on the way home. I reported it to eBird and to the records committee. I hope they accept the record.<\/p>\n

I got to find, point out, and photograph a rare Upland Sandpiper in Utah well out of its normal migration route and range. What a day. What a find!<\/p>\n

You just never know what you’ll find when you are out in the field.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

PS: My sighting was accepted as the 8th recorded sighting<\/span><\/a> of an Upland Sandpiper in Utah.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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

I got to find, point out, and photograph a rare Upland Sandpiper in Utah well out of its normal migration route and range, what a day. What a find<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153683,"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":[27,1148,7646,5401,26],"tags":[5403,4072,5147,4104,1902,2191,5405,3521,992,274,5404,5402],"class_list":["post-41632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-rarities","category-upland-sandpipers","category-utah","tag-bartramia-longicauda","tag-calling","tag-chattering","tag-perched","tag-rare","tag-rarity","tag-records-committee","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-sighting","tag-upland-sandpiper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/upland-sandpiper-mia-mcpherson-4143.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aPu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":73301,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/31\/four-years-ago-today-i-found-a-rare-upland-sandpiper\/","url_meta":{"origin":41632,"position":0},"title":"Four Years Ago Today I Found A Rare Upland Sandpiper","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago today stopping for a Golden Eagle perched on a power pole in Box Elder County would net me a rare Upland Sandpiper sighting because of the sandpiper's chattering call.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Upland Sandpiper in Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/upland-sandpiper-mia-mcpherson-4101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/upland-sandpiper-mia-mcpherson-4101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week, I was delighted to photograph a migrating Pectoral Sandpiper at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pectoral Sandpiper in Oklahoma, Sequoyah 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, 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McPherson","date":"August 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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":"Solitary Sandpiper stretching, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solitary-sandpiper-stretching-mia-mcpherson-1937.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-stretching-mia-mcpherson-1937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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