Tundra Swans – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Tundra Swans And Precious Memories

By Mia McPherson|February 7th, 2024|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Anas platyrhynchos, Cygnus columbianus, dabbling ducks, duck, ducks, flight, flying, ice, ice shelf, immature, mallards, marsh, phragmites, phrags, swan, swans, Tundra Swans, water, waterfowl, wetlands, winter, young|

Tundra Swans and memories are on my mind this morning. Six years ago, I sat in my Jeep watching hundreds of Tundra Swans at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

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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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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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Tundra Swans Are Showing Up In Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|October 21st, 2020|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, clouds, Cygnus columbianus, flight, flock, fly by, flying, immature, marsh, mountains, phragmites, phrags, sky, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, Tundra Swans, waterfowl, winter|

I can barely wait to hear and see my first of season Tundra Swans and to see them on the wing over the marshes that surround the Great Salt Lake.

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Photographing a Pair of Tundra Swans in Flight

By Mia McPherson|February 14th, 2018|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: Cygnus columbianus, flight, lift off, marsh, pair, photograph, photographing, swan, swans, Tundra Swans, water, waterfowl, wetlands, winter|

As I photographed this pair of Tundra Swans in flight I could hear the whir of their wings and the calls of the other swans that were still on the water and also getting ready to lift off.

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Tundra Swans at Home in the Landscape of Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|February 10th, 2018|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: clouds, Cygnus columbianus, feeding, flock, landscape, mountains, resting, sky, swan, swans, Tundra Swans, water, winter|

The Tundra Swans are truly at home in the landscape of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and they belong there as much as the mountains, marshes, birds, animals, fish, sky and the clouds overhead do.

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Dreaming of Tundra Swans & Winter

By Mia McPherson|August 3rd, 2017|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Cygnus columbianus, feeding, flight, flying, landing, marsh, swan, swans, Tundra Swans, water, waterfowl, wetlands, Whistlers, Whistling Swan, winter|

Some Tundra Swans migrate from the arctic tundra using the Great Basin hub of the Pacific flyway and huge flocks of them spend the winter here.

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Birds of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge – Celebrating National Wildlife Refuge Week

By Mia McPherson|October 9th, 2016|Categories: American Avocets, American Barn Owls, American White Pelicans, Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Black-crowned Night Herons, Black-necked Stilts, Box Elder County, Redheads, Rough-legged Hawks, Sandhill Cranes, Tree Swallows, Tundra Swans, Utah, Virginia Rails, Western Grebes, White-faced Ibises|Tags: adult, American Avocets, American Barn Owl, American White Pelican, autumn, avocets, Bald Eagle, Birds of Bear River, birds of prey, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black-necked Stilt, breeding, cranes, ducks, eagles, grebes, harriers, hawks, hen, heron, ice, Marsh Wren, marshes, migration, National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuge Week, nesting, night heron, night herons, Northern Harrier, owls, pelicans, Promontory Mountains, rails, Redhead, resting, Rough-legged Hawk, Sandhill Crane, shorebirds, stilts, swallows, swans, Tree Swallows, Tundra Swans, Virginia Rail, wading birds, Western Grebes, White-faced Ibis, winter, wrens|

This is National Wildlife Refuge Week and in celebration I wanted to do a pictorial essay that includes some of my images of the Birds of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

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Tundra Swans of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

By Mia McPherson|March 6th, 2015|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Cygnus columbianus, flight, flying, lift off, marsh, Promontory Mountains, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, Tundra Swans, wetlands|

I spent part of my morning yesterday being serenaded by the calls of thousands of Tundra Swans at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.

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Juvenile Northern Harrier at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Tundra Swans calling

By Mia McPherson|February 2nd, 2015|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Northern Harriers, Tundra Swans, Utah, Video|Tags: birds of prey, Circus hudsonius, Cygnus columbianus, harriers, immature, juvenile, Marsh hawk, prey, raptors, Tundra Swans, video|

On the way out of the refuge in an area I have heard called Curlew Flats I spotted this juvenile Northern Harrier on the ground and was able to take a few images of it before it lifted off with prey in its talons.

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White on White – Tundra Swan Delight

By Mia McPherson|January 6th, 2015|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Cygnus columbianus, fog, Great Salt Lake, low light, snow, swan, swans, Tundra Swans, waterfowl, whiteout, winter|

I wasn't expecting much from the images but to my delight I liked the effect of the white Tundra Swans on the pure white snow.

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