{"id":41853,"date":"2016-09-01T06:03:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T12:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=41853"},"modified":"2016-09-01T06:33:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T12:33:39","slug":"a-fortuitous-golden-eagle-leads-to-a-rare-upland-sandpiper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/01\/a-fortuitous-golden-eagle-leads-to-a-rare-upland-sandpiper\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fortuitous Golden Eagle Leads To A Rare Upland Sandpiper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Normally you’d have to place a stick of dynamite under me to get me to leave a perched Golden Eagle but yesterday\u00a0this rare Upland Sandpiper enticed me to do just that.<\/p>\n

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\"golden<\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I had hopes of getting some nice take-off shots of this Golden Eagle along the road approaching Golden Spike National Historic Site.\u00a0 It was facing me and the\u00a0sun angle was about right to give me good light on the bird if it launched. But as I watched it through my lens with a hair trigger on the shutter button I kept hearing a\u00a0very strange-sounding bird calling fairly close to me. I was temped to look for the source of the sound but I knew if I did the eagle would choose that moment to take off. So I kept my eye and my lens trained on the eagle.<\/p>\n

Suddenly Mia, shooting from the back seat of my pickup, urgently said “Back up, back up – rare bird!”. It took me a moment to get my wits about me – leaving a Golden Eagle just isn’t in my genes but Mia knows her birds and I’ve come to trust her judgment so back up I did, even though I couldn’t see the source of the excitement at that angle out my window.<\/p>\n

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\"upland<\/p>\n

That strange-sounding call was coming from a bird I’d never seen before, perched on top of\u00a0the power pole right behind us. We hadn’t even seen it as we approached the eagle. Mia recognized it almost immediately as an Upland Sandpiper, a very rare species in Utah. This bird\u00a0was far out of its normal range and migration route.<\/p>\n

The angle was steep, the perch was unattractive and the bird was side-lit but we were both so excited we truly had “buck fever”.<\/p>\n

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\"upland<\/p>\n

This species is well-known for perching on high posts or poles and raising its wings while it gives its tremulous, whistling call – here’s a link<\/a> to the distinctive\u00a0call we were hearing.<\/p>\n

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\"upland<\/p>\n

The bird often raised its wings and fluttered them slightly, typical behavior for the species. This is one of the few shots where I got light in the eye during the performance.<\/p>\n

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\"upland<\/p>\n

One time it raised its wings while rousing and I like the textures it provided despite the challenging light angle.<\/p>\n

We spent 23 minutes with the sandpiper and during that time Mia reported it to the Utah Bird list serve but eventually we became torn between staying with the bird and leaving it to report it to staff at the nearby Golden Spike National Historic Site visitor center. It was only a mile or two away, some of those folks have\u00a0become friends over the years and several are\u00a0very interested in birds so\u00a0we thought some of them might like to see this rare species. So we left the bird and reported it at the visitor center.<\/p>\n

When we returned to look for it the Golden Eagle was perched on another pole very close to where the sandpiper had been and sadly there was no sandpiper to be found. I suspect the eagle may have scared it off. We searched for it for another 20 minutes or so with no luck so we eventually headed for home.<\/p>\n

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\"uplanjd<\/p>\n

This shot of the sandpiper on the pole shows why the angle was so steep. The pole was on a slight rise next to the road and we were about eye level with its base.<\/p>\n

Some background on Upland Sandpipers for those who may be interested:<\/p>\n