Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Luminous Snow-covered Promontory Mountains

By Mia McPherson|February 19th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: alkali flats, alpenglow, dawn, flats, luminous, mountains, pink glow, playa, Promontory Mountain Range, Promontory Mountains, sky, snow, snow-covered, sunrise, winter|

While I was driving to the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR last week, I stopped to take photos of the luminous, snow-covered Promontory Mountains.

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Canada Geese Courtship: A Prelude To Spring

By Mia McPherson|February 18th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Canada Geese, Utah|Tags: adult, Bear River, Branta canadensis, Canada Geese, Canada Goose, frozen, geese, goose, grass, grasses, guard, ice, ranchlands, resting, river, river bottom, riverbank, snow, standing, waterfowl, winter|

February might seem early but I'm already noticing that Canada Geese are pairing up at Bear River MBR which is a prelude to the arrival of spring.

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Dapper Drake Common Merganser At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|February 17th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Common Mergansers, Utah|Tags: adult, bathing, breeding plumage, Common Merganser, diving ducks, drake, ice, male, marsh, merganser, mergansers, Mergus merganser, water, wetlands, winter|

Today I am sharing photos of a dapper drake Common Merganser in his finest breeding plumage that I took four mornings ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

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Great Blue Heron Slip Slidin’ Away

By Mia McPherson|February 16th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Great Blue Herons, Utah|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, flight, flying, Great Blue Heron, heron, herons, ice, icy, jumping, landing, marsh, open water, sliding, slip, slippery, slipping, wading birds, walking, wetlands, winter|

Earlier this week, I visited Bear River MBR and had a fantastic time capturing photographs of birds sliding on the ice. This included an adult Great Blue Heron.

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Great Goldeneye-Merganser Showdown: Who Won the Shad?

By Mia McPherson|February 15th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Common Goldeneyes, Common Mergansers, Great Blue Herons, Utah|Tags: Ardea herodias, bill, Bucephala clangula, chasing, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, diving ducks, drake, duck, ducks, feet, female, fish, following, Great Blue Heron, hen, ice, legs, male, marsh, Mergus merganser, prey, running, shad, sliding, slipping, thin, wading birds, winter|

On my last trip to Bear River MBR I saw and photographed a Goldeneye-Merganser showdown where the prize that was being fought over was a shiny shad.

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Bear River MBR: Winter Haven For Tundra Swans

By Mia McPherson|February 7th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, azure, Cygnus columbianus, flight, flying, immature, marsh, sky, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, Tundra Swans, waterfowl, wetlands, winter, young|

I had hoped that this morning would be sunny so I could head to Bear River MBR to see, listen to, and photograph Tundra Swans on the marshes.

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Driftwood Guardian: Rough-legged Hawk

By Mia McPherson|February 6th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo lagopus, Buteos, driftwood, frosty, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, male, perched, ranchlands, raptors, river, Rough-legged Hawk, snag, snow, wetlands, winter|

I stopped to take photos of an adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched on a driftwood snag over the Bear River when I was leaving Bear River MBR four days ago.

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Leaning Post Bald Eagle

By Mia McPherson|February 4th, 2023|Categories: Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: adult, Bald Eagle, birds of prey, eagle, eagles, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, leaning, looking, marsh, perched, post, raptors, stern, tradition, wetlands, winter|

After my recent visit to Bear River MBR I wanted to share photos of a Bald Eagle on a leaning post that can be seen from the road leading to the auto tour loop.

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My Shadow Plus The Wild Beauty of Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|February 3rd, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: beauty, frozen, ice, landscape, marsh, mountains, Promontory Mountains, scenery, shadow, sky, snow, snow-capped, snow-covered, water, wetlands, wild, winter|

Yesterday morning while it was still dark I bundled up and drove up to soak in the wild beauty of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I am so glad that I went.

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Rough-legged Hawk Staredown

By Mia McPherson|January 11th, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo lagopus, Buteos, close up, cold, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, light morph, male, marsh, mountains, perched, portrait, raptors, Rough-legged Hawk, sign, sky, snow, staredown, wetlands, winter|

One year ago this morning I was on the road to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge where my best subject of the day was a male light morph Rough-legged Hawk.

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Immature American Herring Gull Testing The Ice

By Mia McPherson|January 6th, 2023|Categories: American Herring Gulls, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: American Herring Gull, gull, gulls, ice, immature, insurrection, January 6th, Larus smithsonianus, marsh, testing, water, wetlands, winter, young|

It was January 6, 2021, when I photographed this immature American Herring Gull testing the ice at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

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Hello 2023!

By Mia McPherson|January 1st, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Great Blue Herons, Utah|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, dense, fog, foggy, Great Blue Heron, heavy fog, heron, herons, ice, marsh, snow, wading birds, wetlands, winter|

Hello 2023! I hope that 2023 will be wonderful for each and everyone of us. Right now it isn't clear what 2023 will bring.

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My 2022 Year In Review

By Mia McPherson|December 31st, 2022|Categories: American Kestrels, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Box Elder County, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Golden Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Horned Grebes, Morgan County, Ring-billed Gulls, Rock Wrens, Ruffed Grouse, Tundra Swans, Utah, Warbling Vireos, Wasatch Mountains, Yellow Warblers|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, American Kestrel, Aquila chrysaetos, autumn, background, berries, Bewick's Swan, bill, birds of prey, Black-billed Magpie, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Bonasa umbellus, boulder, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Bubo virginianus, building, canyon, close up, corvids, Cygnus columbianus, Cygnus columbianus bewickii, Davis County, desert, dirt, eagle, eagles, Falco sparverius, falcon, falcons, fall, farmlands, female, fledgling, flight, flock, flowering, flowering shrub, flying, forest edge, fruiting shrub, fruits, fruting shrubs, Golden Eagle, gorget, Great Horned Owl, grebe, grebes, grouse, gull, gulls, Horned Grebe, hummingbird, hummingbirds, immature, juvenile, kestrel, kestrels, Larus delawarensis, lichen, lores, magpie, magpies, male, marsh, mountains, nest, nest box, nesting, nonbreeding plumage, owl, owls, perched, Pica hudsonia, Podiceps auritus, raptors, rare, reflection, Ring-billed Gull, riparian habitat, road, roadside, rock, Rock Wren, rocks, Ruffed Grouse, Salpinctes obsoletus, Selasphorus platycercus, serviceberries, serviceberry, Setophaga petechia, shrub, spring, stink-eye, summer, swan, swans, thicket, tree, Tundra Swans, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, vagrant, warbler, warblers, water, waterbirds, waterfowl, wetlands, willow, willow thicket, willows, winter, winter plumage, wood-warbler, wood-warblers, wren, wrens, Yellow Warbler, young|

On this last day of the year it is time for my annual 2022 Year in Review post. In some ways 2022 has been great for me and in others not so good.

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Wildflowers I Photographed In 2022

By Mia McPherson|December 29th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Blue Elderberry, Box Elder County, Chicory, Common Mullein, Common Sunflowers, Curlycup Gumweed, Davis County, East Canyon, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Flatbud Prickly Poppy, Gray’s Biscuitroot, Hound’s Tongue, Lewis’s Flax, Longleaf Phlox, Morgan County, Mountain Goldenbanner, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, Purple Loosestrife, Roundleaf Snowberry, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Scarlet Gilia, Showy Milkweed, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Purple Geraniums, Summit County, Tooele County, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Western Chokecherry, White Water Crowfoot, Wood's Rose|Tags: Aster, Beardtongue, blooming, blooms, Blue Elderberry, Blue Flax, Chicory, Common Mullein, Common Sunflower, Curlycup Gumweed, Flatbud Prickly Poppy, flowering, flowers, Gray's Biscuitroot, Houndstongue, Lewis's flax, Longleaf Phlox, Mountain Goldenbanner, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, Penstemon, Prickly Poppy, Purple Loosestrife, Roundleaf Snowberry, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Scarlet Gilia, Showy Milkweed, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Purple Geranium, Utah Serviceberry, Western Chokecherry, White Water-crowfoot, wildflower, wildflowers, Woods' Rose|

This morning I wanted to share some of the wildflowers I photographed in 2022. Birds are my primary subjects yet I simply can't resist focusing on wildflowers.

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Birds On Ice In Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|December 14th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Canada Geese, Common Ravens, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Branta canadensis, Canada Geese, Canada Goose, Common Raven, corvids, Corvus corax, Cygnus buccinator, Cygnus columbianus, feathers, geese, goose, gull, gulls, ice, Larus delawarensis, marsh, phragmites, phrags, pond, raven, ravens, Ring-billed Gull, shadow, stretching, swan, swans, Trumpeter Swan, Tundra Swan, urban, vegetation, walking, wary, waterfowl, wetlands, wings, winter|

This morning I'm sharing photos of five bird species that I find on ice during the coldest months of the year in marsh and urban locations.

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Bright Winter Light VS A Winter Whiteout

By Mia McPherson|December 3rd, 2022|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Davis County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Antelope Island Causeway, back view, bright, Cygnus columbianus, field of snow, fog, ice, light, marsh, snow, standing, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, waterfowl, wetlands, white on white, white out, winter|

Earlier this year I photographed a Tundra Swan in bright winter light that today I am comparing to another swan image I took in winter whiteout conditions.

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My Fondness For American Pipits

By Mia McPherson|December 2nd, 2022|Categories: American Pipits, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, autumn, cold, fall, flats, fondness, morning, old lake bed, pipit, pipits, playa, rock, rocks, staring, walking|

It has been almost exactly one year since I have taken high quality images of American Pipits. I have a fondness for these birds and I have missed them.

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Male Northern Harrier Photo

By Mia McPherson|November 22nd, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Northern Harriers, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, Circus hudsonius, dorsal view, duck club, fall, flats, flight, flying, Gray Ghost, harrier, harriers, hawks, male, Marsh hawk, Northern Harrier, raptors, trailers|

I'd like this photo of a male Northern Harrier more if there weren't camping trailers from a duck hunting club near the auto loop of Bear River MBR behind him.

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Tundra Swan Framed By Phrags

By Mia McPherson|November 17th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, Cygnus columbianus, fall, framed, ice, marsh, phragmites, phrags, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, water, waterfowl, wetlands|

When I explored the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on Monday I was able to take photos of one Tundra Swan framed by phrags from the dirt road.

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Ring-billed Gull Feeding Frenzy Excitement

By Mia McPherson|November 16th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: autumn, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, fall, feeding, flight, flying, frenzy, gull, gulls, Larus delawarensis, marsh, Promontory Mountains, Ring-billed Gull, Utah, video, water, wetlands|

When I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge two days ago I witnessed several Ring-billed Gull feeding frenzies out on the marshes of the refuge.

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Great Blue Heron On Driftwood

By Mia McPherson|November 15th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Great Blue Herons, Utah|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, autumn, driftwood, fall, Great Blue Heron, heron, herons, marsh, morning, standing, wading birds, water, wetlands|

I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early yesterday morning where the first bird I photographed was a Great Blue Heron standing on driftwood.

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My First Of Season Common Goldeneye

By Mia McPherson|November 12th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Common Goldeneyes, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: autumn, Bear River, Bucephala clangula, Common Goldeneye, diving ducks, drake, duck, ducks, fall, first of season, lifting off, male, pond, preening, river, taking off, urban, water, waterfowl, wetlands, winter|

I found my first of season Common Goldeneye near a stand of rushes while walking around a local pond after a light skiff of snow had fallen overnight.

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Winter California And American Herring Gull Comparison In Utah

By Mia McPherson|November 8th, 2022|Categories: American Herring Gulls, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, California Gulls, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Herring Gull, beach, Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, breeding plumage, California Gull, coastal, comparison, composite, Definitive Alternate Plumage, Definitive Basic Plumage, floating, Gulf of Mexico, gull, gulls, ice, ID features, identification, Larus californicus, Larus smithsonianus, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, river, sand, side by side, water, wetlands, winter, winter plumage|

Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.

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Fall Views At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|November 6th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Scenics, Utah|Tags: auto tour loop, autumn, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, calm, clouds, fall, fog, grasses, ground fog, marsh, mountains, Promontory Mountains, road, sky, sunrise, trees, Utah, vegetation, water, wetlands|

Yes, I go to Bear River MBR to find and photograph birds, but I also go there to unwind and find comfort in the marsh and the magnificent surroundings.

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Marsh Wren At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|November 5th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Marsh Wrens, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, Cistothorus palustris, clinging, fall, hanging, marsh, Marsh Wren, perspective, phragmites, phrags, upside down, wetlands, wren, wrens|

This morning I am sharing this photo of a tiny Marsh Wren hanging upside down in the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge simply because I like it.

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American Coot Reflection

By Mia McPherson|November 3rd, 2022|Categories: American Coots, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Coot, autumn, coot, coots, fall, feet, Fulica americana, marsh, reflection, reflections, vegetation, water, wetlands|

This American Coot caught my eye on my latest trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge three days ago in part because of the still water and the reflection of the bird.

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Immature Clark’s Grebe And A Mystery

By Mia McPherson|November 2nd, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Clark's Grebes, Utah|Tags: Aechmophorus clarkii, autumn, begging, Clark's Grebe, fall, feathers, grebe, grebes, immature, juvenal plumage, juvenile, loop, marsh, molt, twisted, water, waterbirds, wetlands, young|

I came across an immature Clark's Grebe on Monday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I took photos of the grebe because I could see something on its fluffy neck.

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Surprise Swamp Sparrow At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|November 1st, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Swamp Sparrows, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, fall, foraging, marsh, Melospiza georgiana, phragmites, phrags, rare, rear view, sparrow, sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, uncommon, wetlands|

At Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning, I was surprised to find a Swamp Sparrow near the far southern corner of the auto tour loop.

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Rough-legged Hawk Season Has Begun

By Mia McPherson|October 25th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, back view, birds of prey, Buteo lagopus, Buteos, close up, frost, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, light morph, male, marsh, perched, portrait, raptors, refuge information sign, Rough-legged Hawk, wetlands, winter|

Rough-legged Hawk season has begun in northern Utah. I spotted my first of season Rough-legged Hawks on the wing last Friday.

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Surprise Rooster At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|October 5th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Domestic Chickens, Utah|Tags: Barred Plymouth Rock, chicken, chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus, male, marsh, rooster, wetlands|

I had a surprise encounter with a Barred Plymouth Rock rooster when I stopped at the Bear River MBR restroom closest to the I-15 Interstate last week.

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