{"id":74796,"date":"2020-10-20T05:39:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74796"},"modified":"2025-11-04T10:53:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:53:54","slug":"photographing-autumn-american-pipits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/20\/photographing-autumn-american-pipits\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Autumn American Pipits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-162692 size-full\" title=\"American Pipit with its feathers slightly fluffed, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448.jpg\" alt=\"American Pipit with its feathers slightly fluffed, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0448.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">American Pipit with its feathers slightly fluffed \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>I have been hearing the soft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/358842\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">flight calls<\/span><\/a> of American Pipits for weeks and seeing them way out in fields, mudflats and flying overhead. The problem has been that they have all been too far away for decent, high quality images.<\/p>\n<p>The pile of rocks this pipit was photographed on at Farmington Bay WMA last October is gone now and I felt sad when I noticed it because the American Pipits seemed to congregate on those rocks in the early morning hours.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-162695 size-full\" title=\"American Pipit in golden morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg\" alt=\"American Pipit in golden morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">American Pipit in golden morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The American Pipits I&#8217;ve seen this year at Farmington Bay WMA are way out in the flats and to the untrained eye they look like leaves blowing in a gentle breeze. I know what they are though and I keep wishing that I could get closer to them this fall. Perhaps I&#8217;ll be able to get closer to them at Bear River MBR or further north in Box Elder County. I do know that I am going to keep trying to find some close enough to photograph this fall.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-pipit-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Pipit photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162695,"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":[2400,4655,970,4620,5025,10552,4254,4099,4246,5475,4895,4470],"class_list":["post-74796","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-fall","tag-feathers","tag-fluffed","tag-golden-light","tag-morning-light","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-pipit","tag-pipits","tag-rocks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0536.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jso","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66058,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/03\/american-pipits-in-sweet-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":74796,"position":0},"title":"American Pipits In Sweet Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Pipits&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Pipit in golden light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2123.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-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2123.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2123.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-pipit-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-2123.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":74796,"position":1},"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. I was so happy.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Pipits&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Pipit in roadside grasses, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-pipit-in-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5488.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-pipit-in-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5488.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-pipit-in-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5488.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-pipit-in-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5488.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":74796,"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 &quot;American Pipits&quot;","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":74796,"position":3},"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 &quot;American Pipits&quot;","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":49060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/21\/american-pipit-stretch-lift-and-fluff\/","url_meta":{"origin":74796,"position":4},"title":"American Pipit &#8211; 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 &quot;American Pipits&quot;","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":61094,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/31\/leaping-american-pipit-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":74796,"position":5},"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 &quot;American Pipits&quot;","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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74796","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=74796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}