And a chance encounter with an old friend.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Three days ago, near the end of the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR, I was lucky enough to find several migrating Solitary Sandpipers. As I was approaching them I expected them to be Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs so I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out to be Solitary Sandpipers, a species I see far less often.
I was also surprised that they were so calm with me so close. When I first approached them, this bird stopped and stared at me for a while, just to make sure I was no threat. After that they calmly went about their business.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
They may have accepted me, but they were extremely wary of potential threats from the sky. I saw this upward-looking pose multiple times from several of the sandpipers.
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
There were three of them in the group but this was one of the few photos I got with more than one of them in the frame. Not a good shot but it verifies that there was more than one of them.
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
They didn’t give me much in the way of interesting poses, or if they did I had the ‘wrong’ bird in my viewfinder when it happened. This bird lifted off and…
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
flew a short distance to a different spot on the water but I didn’t have a very good angle on it.
At that point I figured I’d been lucky. Except for a single vehicle I’d had the refuge completely to myself all morning and I’d already spent quite a while with the sandpipers and taken many photos of them. I knew that…
my good friend and blog follower April Olson was approaching from about a quarter mile behind me (in her rental car while her car was being repaired). I’d taken this photo earlier in the morning but while I was with the sandpipers I could see her approaching so I drove on down the road so April would have a better experience with the sandpipers with me not there.
Eventually, when both April and I had reached the end of the auto tour loop, we had a good long visit in our vehicles. It’d been a long while since we’d visited so we took the opportunity to catch up on a lot of stuff. It was at that point that she told me that by the time she got to the sandpipers they’d all moved off to much farther away.
Our visit was one of the highlights of my morning. April’s one of the good guys.
Ron
Some notes about the last photo.
- That area of the refuge is fairly desolate looking because managers have sprayed the invasive phrags so they’re all dead. But as you can see in the photo, the swallows don’t seem to mind.
- In the background near the top of the photo you can see one of the erosion benches of old Lake Bonneville. I believe that bench is called the Bonneville Level. When the lake reached that level about 15,000 years ago, most of it drained through Red Rock Pass into the Snake River Drainage, creating one helluva flood. Today’s Great Salt Lake, what’s left of it, is a remnant of Lake Bonneville.
- If Great Salt Lake continues to decline, as I expect it to, I propose changing its name to Not So Great Salt Lake. Not completely tongue in cheek either. Then, when the lake is completely gone, we can call it Great Poison Flats, as my good friend Jim DeWitt has suggested.
I love seeing what these solitary sandpipers look like under their wings. Nature loves patterns! If my understanding is correct, April also has a blog – I’d like to check it out. Might you share?
Marcia, if April has a blog it’s news to me. I suspect Melanie is following her on Facebook. April posts there quite a bit.
Last 2 shots with reflections are beautiful! 🙂
Glad you got a visit with April…… 🙂
We’ve been doing the wind thing and it brought the smoke back in – UGH!
Judy, it was the wind that got rid of our smoke. Now it’s just cloudy and rainy.
How I love the reflection shots. And hooray for a meeting of the good guys.
Thank you, EC,
Sensational series Ron, thanks for sharing!
Charlotte Norton
Thanks, Charlotte.
More wonderful shots of a species I don’t think I’ve ever seen. Really drawn to the last two sandpiper shots with those wings reflected in the water. The physics of water has always fascinated me.
April definitely is “one of the good guys” and like attracts like! Glad you two had a chance to catch up.💜
Thanks, Marty. And catch up we did. I’m surprised by how long we talked.
I really like the image of the sandpiper looking up from the fragments of reeds. I also like the image with the raised wings. I like seeing the underside feather pattern and condition. The birds were not close and only one worth trying for a shot. I did try for photos, I can post some today. The birds were moving west when I raised my lens and I mostly had butt shots. When another vehicle passed all three birds flew west.
I wasn’t sure how long I would stay on the east side of the loop. The horse/deer flies are bad in that area. I had them landing all over my car but only one or two flew in, I killed one and the other left. The east side is also where most of the cattle seem to be. I was hoping for some cattle egrets. Another photographer friend has photos of about 8 egrets in with the cattle on the 28th.
Yes birds of a feather and we often flock together when in the field. It’s always fun visiting with you too Ron.
April, I noticed all those deer flies but for some reason they never bothered me. Completely unlike those little a$$holes.
Lots of Solitary Sandpipers here in RI. When I see them in a group I always ask if they can be called “solitary” when they are in a group. No one replies to my snarky question, and I guess the birds don’t care. Thanks for these, and all your wonderful photos!
Thanks, Noel. In this situation your “snarky question” is the logical one to ask.
Such a beautiful little bird. I love your photo of it flying with its reflection on the undisturbed water and its feet cutting through the still surface. I don’t know that I have ever seen a solitary sandpiper in person. I looked up the details on Cornell’s website. They nest in trees using abandoned songbirds nests rather than nesting on the ground! You always inspire me to research your posts and subjects. Also, I love following you and April. It is fun when you mention each other. I will probably never meet either of you yet I can enjoy your posts as if we were old friends.
What a nice comment, Melanie. Thank you.
I almost mentioned the tree-nesting habits of Solitary Sandpipers in my post but thought better of it for fear I was ‘talking’ too much.
Thank you, both for the pictures and for the geology lesson.
In your fourth picture, there’s a thin stream of water (I think it’s water) coming off the bird’s left foot. This reminds me very much of a photo of a coyote that you posted some time ago, maybe five years ago. There was a stream of something coming off the coyote’s foot, and you asked your readers whether we thought it looked like water, or a twig, or something else (I forget exactly). The similarity between the streams coming off this bird’s foot and the coyote’s foot lends credence to the idea that it was water in both cases.
Phil, I’m impressed by your memory of that coyote photo. And yes, it was a stream of (muddy) water in the case of the coyote photo.
I posted that photo nearly nine years ago.
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2014/01/14/a-coyote-a-reflection-and-an-interpretive-error-on-my-part/
What a treat! I only see Solitary Sandpipers in migration, and all too often they are distant scope views of hungry birds foraging feverishly on mudflats. I never get to see that spectacular underwing pattern. Thanks for sharing, Ron.
Thanks, Diane. I only see them during migration too.
Interesting post Ron. I have never knowingly seen a Solitary Sandpiper. I have taken shots of Pectoral, Spotted, and Least. I think here the Spotted and Least are the most commonly seen. Always fun the watch as are most shorebirds.
A morning alone shooting bird photography to me is heaven, but rarely happens. I am a very sociable person, but when out in nature I prefer to be alone.
“A morning alone shooting bird photography to me is heaven.”
That’s exactly how I feel, Everett. The last three times I’ve been to Bear River I’ve had the place completely or almost completely to myself. That’s one of the many advantages of getting on location at sunrise.
Good find Ron. Those last two liftoff shots are real eye-catchers. So beautiful with the reflection in the water, and where one can really examine and appreciate the wing feathers.
How wonderful to meet a friend in such a wonderous place. Birds of a feather…
“Birds of a feather”
Wish I’d thought of that. Thanks, Michael.
What a sleek, graceful,and mild-looking bird…..so, if there are more than one of them together, are they still “Solitary Sandpiper(s)” ?–Couldn’t resist–following your quip of the Not-So-Great-Salt Lake”…….
Made me chuckle, Kris. “Not So Solitary Sandpiper(s)”… ? 🙂