{"id":66058,"date":"2020-03-03T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=66058"},"modified":"2025-11-04T10:26:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:26:41","slug":"american-pipits-in-sweet-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/03\/american-pipits-in-sweet-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"American Pipits In Sweet Morning Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit tucked into some rocks \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning while photographing birds on Antelope Island I heard then saw a few American Pipits fly overhead and they reminded me of a series of photos I had taken last fall of pipits at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

I had edited some of the pipits photos but hadn’t shared them here yet. Today I am sharing some of those pipit photos before I forget to again.<\/p>\n

These are a few of my favorite photos that I have taken of American Pipits. Ever. Part of the reason they are my favorites is because of the sweet morning light. That touch of golden light that I seek in my bird photos.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit in sweet morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The other part of why these are some of my favorite American Pipits photos was the experience of having so many pipits around me that I had a hard time deciding which of them to aim my lens at. The pipits seemed to be every where, on the rocks, the ground, the marsh and the sky.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit perched on a rock in early morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the American pipits were resting, some were active, some were perched and just wagging their tails while others were busy chasing each other around on the rocks or in the air.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit walking on a pile of rocks \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

With dozens of pipits flying in, flying out and moving around on the rocks or the marsh it was a challenge to decide which bird to have in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit perched on some rocks \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

That morning I focused on getting a mix of all the backgrounds that I could and I photographed the pipits at varying distances.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit in golden light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of those pipit photos even turned out looking a bit 3D. The sweet, soft morning light helped with that. This pipit looks as though it could fly off of my screen and land on my desk.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Pipit shaking its feathers \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I still have hundreds of American Pipit<\/span><\/a> photos to go through from that October morning at Farmington Bay. I might find a few more gems among them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

These are a few of my favorite photos that I have taken of American Pipits. Ever. Part of the reason they are my favorites is because of the sweet morning light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162685,"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":[4654,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[2400,4655,970,6692,4620,916,4254,4094,5475,4895,6985,4470,9121,9122],"class_list":["post-66058","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-autumn","tag-early-morning-light","tag-fall","tag-favorites","tag-golden-light","tag-marsh","tag-pipit","tag-pipits","tag-rock-pile","tag-rocks","tag-songbirds","tag-sweet-light"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2123.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hbs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/20\/photographing-autumn-american-pipits\/","url_meta":{"origin":66058,"position":0},"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":96866,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/02\/american-pipits-aka-buff-bellied-pipits\/","url_meta":{"origin":66058,"position":1},"title":"American Pipits – AKA Buff-bellied Pipits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been hearing American Pipits since around the end of September but so far this year I haven't been able to photograph even one of these birds.","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 on a large wooden post, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/american-pipit-wooden-post-mia-mcpherson-1678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/american-pipit-wooden-post-mia-mcpherson-1678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/american-pipit-wooden-post-mia-mcpherson-1678.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/american-pipit-wooden-post-mia-mcpherson-1678.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137026,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/17\/my-first-american-pipit-sighting-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":66058,"position":2},"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":61094,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/31\/leaping-american-pipit-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":66058,"position":3},"title":"Leaping American Pipit At Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"With scores of pipits flying in, flying out and moving around on the rocks it was a challenge to decide which bird to have in my viewfinder.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leaping American Pipit, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48532,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/19\/american-pipits-on-the-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":66058,"position":4},"title":"American Pipits On The Rocks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been hearing American Pipits on the wing for a while now and yesterday I was happy to photograph several pipits while they perched on some rocks in northern Utah.","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 standing tall, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-standing-tall-mia-mcpherson-5327.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-standing-tall-mia-mcpherson-5327.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-standing-tall-mia-mcpherson-5327.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-standing-tall-mia-mcpherson-5327.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":66058,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}