{"id":93117,"date":"2021-08-10T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T11:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=93117"},"modified":"2025-09-07T16:05:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:05:34","slug":"hatch-year-spotted-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/10\/hatch-year-spotted-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatch Year Spotted Sandpiper at Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HatchHatch year Spotted Sandpiper \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was looking through my older images and came across this one of a hatch year Spotted Sandpiper on some rocks at Bear River MBR<\/span><\/a>. I realized when I saw the photo that I have shared images of adult and Spotted Sandpipers chicks that I have photographed in Utah but zero images of this particular age of this species.<\/p>\n

Spotted Sandpiper adults still have spotted chests and bellies at this time of the year. This hatch year bird photographed on August 11, 2016 did not. There may still be sandpiper chicks running around in their fluffy juvenal plumage<\/span><\/a> somewhere in northern Utah but this bird is in a plumage phase beyond that. This immature Spotted Sandpiper was in what I like to think of as its teen-aged plumage phase when I photographed it six years ago.<\/p>\n

It is almost the middle of August and it dawned on me this morning that it won’t be long before the Spotted Sandpipers that hatched this year will be winging their way south on their first fall migration. I hope I see and photograph a few more Spotted Sandpipers before they go.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I was looking through my older images and came across this one of a hatch year Spotted Sandpiper on some rocks at Bear River MBR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154738,"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":[124,27,1148,504,26],"tags":[2209,5381,4067,4094,5330,5558,4470,3521,992,2407,2315,3996,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-93117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-spotted-sandpipers","category-utah","tag-actitis-macularia","tag-hatch-year","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-plumage-phase","tag-river","tag-rocks","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-spotted-sandpiper","tag-summer-3","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-immature-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-9116.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-odT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46609,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/05\/teetering-spotted-sandpiper-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":93117,"position":0},"title":"Teetering Spotted Sandpiper at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The movement and bird that caught my eye was a Spotted Sandpiper teetering on a rock right next to the water. I adore Spotted Sandpipers so I just had to take images of the butt bouncing bird.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper next to the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9774.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":150461,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/07\/18\/spring-spotted-sandpiper-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":93117,"position":1},"title":"Spring Spotted Sandpiper In Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in May I was delighted to photograph this fluffed-up Spotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage while I was near the water at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spotted-sandpiper-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1103.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":143249,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/07\/surfing-spotted-sandpipers-on-the-arkansas-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":93117,"position":2},"title":"Surfing Spotted Sandpipers On The Arkansas River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw something I\u2019d never seen before, Spotted Sandpipers riding fast-moving logs down the Arkansas River while foraging! Wild and totally unexpected!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper on a log floating down the Arkansas River, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-log-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-1777.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-log-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-log-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago while near the Weber River up in Summit County I heard a familiar sound and I knew from that sound that a Spotted Sandpiper was nearby.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper on the Weber River, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-weber-river-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-weber-river-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-weber-river-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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