{"id":59181,"date":"2019-07-24T05:50:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T11:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=59181"},"modified":"2025-05-26T08:49:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T13:49:25","slug":"tiny-spotted-sandpiper-chicks-learning-about-their-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/24\/tiny-spotted-sandpiper-chicks-learning-about-their-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Spotted Sandpiper Chicks Learning About Their World"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was excited and enchanted by seeing and photographing at least two Spotted Sandpiper chicks yesterday morning near a creek up in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was excited because this was the first time that I was able to photograph Spotted Sandpipers chicks that were this young and I was enchanted by how they went about navigating their world so well at such a young age.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper chick – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I spotted the first chick it was so small that it might have fooled other people into believing it was simply a clump of cottonwood fluff being blown around on the ground but it didn’t fool me.<\/p>\n

I knew what it was immediately and as soon as I could I started to photograph the dainty sandpipers. Pointing the chicks out was a challenge.<\/p>\n

The chicks ran around in and out of the shadows searching for food at such a quick pace that it was more than a bit challenging to keep my focus on them and because of their speed I took a few images where the tiny chicks were out of focus.<\/p>\n

I was especially pleased with this photo because it seemed like a beam of sunshine put a spotlight on the itty-bitty Spotted Sandpiper chick.<\/p>\n

I thought I saw a third chick behind some vegetation but I can’t be absolutely sure of that because my view of it was brief and obstructed.<\/p>\n

There was an adult nearby keeping an eye on the chicks and I can probably safely say that it was a male because it is usually the male Spotted Sandpipers that incubate and raise the young.<\/p>\n

I hope these little balls of fluff are able to mature and return to this same area next year where a view of this shorebird species always delights me and causes my heart to beat a little faster.<\/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":"

I was excited and enchanted by seeing and photographing at least two Spotted Sandpiper chicks yesterday morning near a creek up in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,504,1731,26,773],"tags":[2209,10264,3940,4134,3843,7475,4067,4071,4069,3521,992,274,2407,2315,4957,4193],"class_list":["post-59181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-spotted-sandpipers","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-actitis-macularia","tag-alpine-creek","tag-canyon","tag-chick","tag-creek","tag-dainty","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-mountains","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-summer-3","tag-tiny","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-sunshine-mia-mcpherson-1596.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fox","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59283,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/31\/photographing-young-spotted-sandpiper-chicks\/","url_meta":{"origin":59181,"position":0},"title":"Photographing 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