{"id":72297,"date":"2020-07-29T05:33:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T11:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=72297"},"modified":"2025-09-06T17:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:41:20","slug":"focusing-on-spotted-sandpiper-chicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/29\/focusing-on-spotted-sandpiper-chicks\/","title":{"rendered":"Focusing On Spotted Sandpiper Chicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper chicks and its reflection \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning the first birds I spotted in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> were two tiny, butt bouncing Spotted Sandpiper chicks foraging on their own.<\/p>\n

The adult, presumably a male since the males of this species incubate and raise the young most<\/em> of the time, was nearby giving the one note call I hear them make while they are keeping an eye on their chicks.<\/p>\n

Spotted Sandpipers bounce their bottoms all the time, I’d almost bet these chicks hatch from their eggs while bouncing their cute little butts up and down.<\/p>\n

I’d almost given up hope for seeing Spotted Sandpiper chicks at this location. We’d had a late cold snap for several days earlier in the breeding season and I was concerned that it had somehow affected the nesting success of the pair I knew was in the area.<\/p>\n

After seeing these chicks yesterday these little balls of fluff put those concerns to rest.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper chick at the water’s edge \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

For a bit the floofy Spotted Sandpiper chicks foraged on a small sandbar that became exposed when the water level dropped in the creek after spring runoff.<\/p>\n

They usually move quickly and at times can be a challenge to track with a long lens but they are so much fun to watch that the challenges seem minor compared to the joy that they bring to me.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper chick in an alpine creek \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Spotted Sandpiper seemed to be calling the chicks to the other side of the creek and away from the small sandbar and I had truly hoped to get photos of the young sandpipers swimming the creek.<\/p>\n

Well they did swim across the creek but both of them had their backs to me as they paddled through the water.<\/p>\n

Close to the water’s edge both chicks leapt towards the banks of the creek with their little wings flapping wildly. They don’t have their flying abilities down pat yet however they will be flying on those wings soon.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/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

By the way, there was a bit of excitement yesterday other than seeing birds.<\/p>\n

A man named Troy had a bicycle accident in an area where cell signals are virtually non-existent and the friend he was riding with had said another woman had come by earlier who said she would drive until she got a signal for help but that it had been a while.<\/p>\n

The friend said he thought both of Troy’s arms were broken in the accident and that he couldn’t move him. Troy was laying on the shoulder of a very narrow section of the road.<\/p>\n

I’d remembered reading that even when cell signals are spotty that a person can still dial 911.<\/p>\n

So even though I wasn’t showing any bars on my phone I called 911 and I actually got a voice on the other end.<\/p>\n

That call dropped out before I could give the dispatcher all the info they needed so I tried again and reached another dispatcher who was able to get most of the information needed from me before that call also dropped.<\/p>\n

In a few minutes that dispatcher called back and let me know that help was on the way.<\/p>\n

A while later I watched as a police pickup followed by a fire department pickup drove past with their lights flashing to give Troy (didn’t get his last name from his friend) the assistance he so badly needed.<\/p>\n

The ambulance soon arrived as well. I felt relief and I hope that Troy is recovering today. This photo is of the police and fire department\/rescue squad pickups, I couldn’t see the ambulance from this point of view.<\/p>\n

\"high<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning the first birds I spotted in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains were two tiny, butt bouncing Spotted Sandpiper chicks foraging on their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154672,"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":[2209,10264,3940,4134,4068,3843,4067,4071,4069,3521,992,274,2407,3996,4193],"class_list":["post-72297","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-chicks","tag-creek","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-mountains","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-water","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-in-water-mia-mcpherson-2151.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-iO5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103431,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/19\/happy-fathers-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":72297,"position":0},"title":"Happy 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World","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper chick, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-sunshine-mia-mcpherson-1596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-sunshine-mia-mcpherson-1596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Chick Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was over the moon to be able to take these photos of the young Spotted Sandpiper swimming across the alpine creek because I've never had the opportunity to do so before.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper chick swimming across an alpine creek, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-swimming-in-creek-mia-mcpherson-3504.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/spotted-sandpiper-chick-swimming-in-creek-mia-mcpherson-3504.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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