{"id":8072,"date":"2013-04-10T14:05:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T20:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8072"},"modified":"2025-02-07T06:46:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T12:46:21","slug":"mountain-plovers-a-dream-come-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/10\/mountain-plovers-a-dream-come-true\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Plovers – A Dream Come True"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Lifer! My face has melted!<\/p>\n

This morning while looking for Long-billed Curlews on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> I spotted a bird in the distance and put my lens on it. If I had been in a position to fall out of a chair I would have but the truck door kept me from doing so. I had found, identified, and pointed out a lifer!<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert Mountain Plover male<\/span><\/p>\n

What I saw through my lens was a Mountain Plover, a bird I have long dreamed of seeing. A rarity here in Utah. My jaw dropped and as I got closer I held my breath hoping it wouldn’t fly away.<\/p>\n

It didn’t and as I got close enough to get images I spotted another plover. I had to remind myself to breathe.<\/p>\n

\"MountainMountain Plover, female going into breeding plumage<\/span><\/p>\n

After trying to call a friend to let him know about the bird and failing because my cell signal stank I was able to get an email sent to UBIRD (a bird list) telling everyone who follows the list about the Mountain Plovers.<\/p>\n

Because of my keen eyesight and my bird identification skills, the person I was with also got a lifer.<\/p>\n

I spent from 8:20 am to 10:01 am with those birds. I’m still smiling so hard it hurts, not only did I get to see them but I took hundreds of high quality images too.<\/p>\n

I’m blown away by how beautiful Mountain Plovers are in person. Blown away. I have to pinch myself to believe that I photographed Mountain Plovers – A Dream Come True<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

What I saw through my lens was a Mountain Plover, a bird I have long dreamed of seeing. A rarity here in Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139437,"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":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,1022,2188,7646,26],"tags":[4004,2190,58,4021,11978,4109,2189,5841,275,1902,7647,2191,7648,2326,274,165],"class_list":["post-8072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-mountain-plovers","category-rarities","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anarhynchus-montanus","tag-antelope-island-sp","tag-bird-photography","tag-desert-island","tag-grasses","tag-mountain-plover","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-rare","tag-rarities","tag-rarity","tag-record","tag-road","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-6534.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-26c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8081,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/11\/more-mountain-plover-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":8072,"position":0},"title":"More Mountain Plover Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to share a few more of the Mountain Plover images I took which are a lifer bird for me as well as being rare in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Mountain Plover in a field on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-5959.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-5959.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On April 10th I spotted two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island State Park after reporting it to the UBIRD birding list many birders and bird photographers sped to the island to see these birds which are a rarity in this area.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mountain Plover male in the grass, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-7157.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-7157.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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