{"id":8832,"date":"2013-07-08T03:45:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T09:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8832"},"modified":"2025-02-07T09:12:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T15:12:59","slug":"ghosts-of-the-prairie-mountain-plovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/08\/ghosts-of-the-prairie-mountain-plovers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts of the Prairie – Mountain Plovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 10th I spotted two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> after reporting it to the UBIRD birding list many\u00a0birders and bird photographers\u00a0sped to the island to see these birds which are a rarity in this area.<\/p>\n

\"MountainMountain Plover female resting on the ground<\/span><\/p>\n

These were birds I had dreamed of seeing and they were even more wonderful than I had ever\u00a0hoped to see in person\u00a0and photograph.<\/p>\n

\"MountainMountain Plover male in the grass<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountain Plovers are also called Ghosts of the Prairie or Prairie Ghosts because of their habit of squatting with their backs to disturbance in the prairies their coloring makes them seemingly disappear from view.<\/p>\n

The two Ghosts of the Prairie – Mountain Plovers I found and identified for my companion didn’t disappear into the grasses because the grasses were green at the time.<\/p>\n

If they were here now though they would blend right into the setting because the grass has dried up to a faded tawny color.<\/p>\n

\"Over

Over the shoulder look from a female Mountain Plover<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the shoulder look from a female Mountain Plover<\/span><\/p>\n

As I photographed these Mountain Plovers I became enamored by\u00a0their beauty, movements and that they were not skittish at all. They moved quickly when they were foraging and would also stand very still at times too.<\/p>\n

My sighting was the 10th vetted record for Mountain Plovers in Utah and truly I was dumbstruck when I realized what I was seeing in April.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mountain Plover in a sandy location<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mountain Plovers were migrating through to their breeding grounds and were in the same location for two days which allowed many of the birders and bird photographers to get great views and images of them.<\/p>\n

I never hear the birds call while I was with them but I wish I had because their call sounds delightful to my ears, you can listen to it here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Plover with an eye on me<\/span><\/p>\n

I read up on their nesting behaviors and found out that the female lays a clutch of three eggs\u00a0then leaves the male to incubate them and then she lays three more eggs that she incubates. They will renest if the eggs are lost to predation.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mountain Plover with a caterpillar<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know that I will ever be lucky enough to find and point out Mountain Plovers again but I do know that if I do I will be just as enthralled with them as I was that morning in April. Photographing these plovers was a gift.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139474,"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":[511,27,1022,2188,7646,26],"tags":[4004,2190,4053,4070,2275,4062,2189,4952,5841,275,2276,1902,2191,274,165],"class_list":["post-8832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-mountain-plovers","category-rarities","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anarhynchus-montanus","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-female","tag-ghosts-of-the-prairie","tag-male","tag-mountain-plover","tag-mountain-plovers","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-prairie-ghost","tag-rare","tag-rarity","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-7157.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2is","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68022,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/07\/my-rare-mountain-plover-sighting-happened-almost-seven-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":0},"title":"My Rare Mountain Plover Sighting Happened Almost Seven Years Ago","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My rare Mountain Plover sighting happened almost seven years ago on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted, identified and photographed of the plovers during spring migration.","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":"Resting female Mountain Plover, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-6811.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-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-6811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-6811.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-6811.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/03\/mountain-plovers-technology-today-is-amazing\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":1},"title":"Mountain Plovers – Technology Today Is Amazing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Seven days shy of a year ago I found two rare Mountain Plovers in the White Rock Bay area of Antelope Island State Park and lately I have been hoping to see them again.","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":"Male Mountain Plover in breeding plumage, 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-6607.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-6607.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-6607.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-6607.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8072,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/10\/mountain-plovers-a-dream-come-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":2},"title":"Mountain Plovers – A Dream Come True","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"What I saw through my lens was a Mountain Plover, a bird I have long dreamed of seeing. A rarity here 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":"Alert Mountain Plover male, 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-6534.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-6534.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-6534.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-6534.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-5959.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-mia-mcpherson-5959.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11528,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/03\/mountain-plover-on-antelope-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":4},"title":"Mountain Plover on Antelope Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight months ago I spotted two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island State Park and I am still blown away by seeing and photographing those beautiful shorebirds who are uncommon 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":"Handsome shorebird, the Mountain Plover, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mountain-plover-spring-utah-mia-mcpherson-6058.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-spring-utah-mia-mcpherson-6058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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