{"id":49168,"date":"2017-10-28T06:45:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T12:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49168"},"modified":"2025-11-01T14:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T19:19:34","slug":"one-second-american-pipit-scuffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/28\/one-second-american-pipit-scuffle\/","title":{"rendered":"One Second American Pipit Scuffle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit displaying defensive behavior – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this week while photographing birds at Farmington Bay WMA I was able to take images of a one second scuffle between two American Pipits.<\/p>\n

I actually only took four frames between the time the American Pipit in the photo above assumed a defensive posture to when the intruding pipit chased off the first pipit.<\/p>\n

The American Pipits I am photographing now in their nonbreeding season are displaying some antagonistic behaviors including aerial flights and chases even though they are not on their breeding territory.<\/p>\n

When I saw this pipit open its bill, crouch and call I hoped to get an action shot or two.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipits scuffling over a perch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two frames later the intruding pipit showed up in my photo and both birds acted aggressive towards the other. The frame after this one shows the blurry tail feathers of the bird at the top of the rock flying away and the second bird moving towards the top of the rock, before I could lock focus on the intruding bird it too had flown away.<\/p>\n

It was interesting to not only see but to photograph this interaction between the two American Pipits. I could wish that the setting had been less cluttered, that the interaction had lasted longer so I could have had more time and more images of their behaviors but I am happy to have just these few frames of the American Pipits<\/span><\/a> scuffling.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Birds are great.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Earlier this week while photographing birds at Farmington Bay WMA I was able to take images of a one second scuffle between two American Pipits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162600,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4654,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[2400,4655,4226,4913,763,5475,4895,6194,6195],"class_list":["post-49168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-pipits","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-american-pipit","tag-anthus-rubescens","tag-behavior","tag-defensive-behavior","tag-defensive-posture","tag-pipit","tag-pipits","tag-scuffle","tag-scuffling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-defensive-mia-mcpherson-2944.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cN2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":137026,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/17\/my-first-american-pipit-sighting-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":0},"title":"My First American Pipit Sighting At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had my first American Pipit sighting at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. There were quite a few pipits in plowed fields on both sides of the road.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy American Pipit, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-pipit-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-3305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-pipit-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-3305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-pipit-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-3305.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-pipit-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-3305.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108427,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/02\/my-fondness-for-american-pipits\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":1},"title":"My Fondness For American Pipits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been almost exactly one year since I have taken high quality images of American Pipits. I have a fondness for these birds and I have missed them.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Pipits on the rocks, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-pipit-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-7475.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-pipit-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-7475.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-pipit-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-7475.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-pipit-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-7475.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/20\/photographing-autumn-american-pipits\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":2},"title":"Photographing Autumn American Pipits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year by this date I had taken hundreds of photos of American Pipits. So far this autumn I have taken Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Pipit in golden morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/21\/american-pipit-stretch-lift-and-fluff\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":3},"title":"American Pipit – Stretch, Lift and Fluff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"American Pipits aren't flashy birds, their coloring might even be called drab by some people, but I have a great time photographing them whenever I can.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Pipit stretching both its wings, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-wing-lift-mia-mcpherson-7852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-wing-lift-mia-mcpherson-7852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-wing-lift-mia-mcpherson-7852.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-wing-lift-mia-mcpherson-7852.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42614,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/14\/migrating-american-pipits-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":4},"title":"Migrating American Pipits in Utah – Pipits Everywhere!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"American Pipits are migrating through Utah in large numbers right now and yesterday morning at Farmington Bay they seemed to be everywhere!","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling American Pipit, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-pipit-calling-mia-mcpherson-7694.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-pipit-calling-mia-mcpherson-7694.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-pipit-calling-mia-mcpherson-7694.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-pipit-calling-mia-mcpherson-7694.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":117509,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/26\/autumn-american-pipit-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":49168,"position":5},"title":"Autumn American Pipit Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Monday I took my first autumn American Pipit photos of 2023 while I was on the auto tour loop at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. 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