{"id":9028,"date":"2013-07-29T03:45:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T09:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9028"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:25:13","slug":"spots-before-my-eyes-spotted-sandpipers-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/29\/spots-before-my-eyes-spotted-sandpipers-that-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Spots Before My Eyes – Spotted Sandpipers That Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NonbreedingSpotted Sandpiper in nonbreeding plumage – Florida – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in May I published a post titled Spot the Sandpiper on the Seawall<\/a><\/span> and in that post I mentioned (or was it lamented) the fact that I hadn’t gotten images of them I felt I could be proud of in breeding plumage. Well I did this past week while I was in Beaverhead County, Montana!<\/p>\n

I photographed the Spotted Sandpiper above at Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a>, Florida back in January of 2009 on some rip rap in a lagoon. They were very approachable there. I even had one fall asleep while I photographed it. But notice the clean white belly? That is because this bird was in nonbreeding plumage.<\/p>\n

I really wanted images of Spotted Sandpipers in breeding plumage though.<\/p>\n

\"SpottedSpotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage – Montana – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Now take a gander at this Spotted Sandpiper I photographed last week\u00a0along the West Fork Blacktail Deer Creek in southwestern Montana and you’ll see why I had spots before my eyes!<\/p>\n

And it is not just the belly of the bird, there are even a few spots on its darker feathers. It was amusing to watch and photograph this Spotted Sandpiper and watch it bob its butt up and down and listen to its call<\/a><\/span>\u00a0which I don’t recall hearing on their wintering grounds.<\/p>\n

Because of their butt bobbing ways these sandpipers are also called teeter-tail, teeter-peep, jerk bird and tip-tail. Me; I often call them little butt bobbers.<\/p>\n

The day before photographing this bird in the same area I heard an alarm call from a Spotted Sandpiper and then there was movement in the air as two Prairie Falcons were apparently both after the little shorebird.<\/p>\n

The falcons became aggressive towards each other and the sandpiper flew off. Having seen the Spotted Sandpiper there I went back the next day and that is when I photographed this one.<\/p>\n

So I finally have images of the breeding plumage of this small shorebird that show the spots that gave this bird the name Spotted Sandpiper!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I finally have images of the breeding plumage of this small shorebird that show the spots that gave this bird the name Spotted Sandpiper!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1513,27,25,704,12,2000,504],"tags":[2209,4004,4053,3843,4246,3980,4908,3521,992,2407,4912],"class_list":["post-9028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-montana","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-spotted-sandpipers","tag-actitis-macularia","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-creek","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-pinellas-county","tag-rip-rap","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-west-fork-blacktail-deer-creek"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t