Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

By Mia McPherson, on June 3rd, 2013%

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Normally I don’t care for images where there is some type of out feature in front of the subject but in this image I like the out of focus foreground grass because it lends a sense of habitat to the frame. Black-crowned Night Herons often hunt along marshes, creeks, lakes and other impoundments of water where there is ample vegetation. This might be a bit too messy for some people’s tastes though I find it appealing myself. I’m not sure, is it too messy or not?

Mia

More Black-crowned Night Heron images

* I am away again, please feel free to share this post with your family and friends and thanks for the comments you leave.

Potpourri of Birds from this week

By Mia McPherson, on May 25th, 2013%

Chukar on Antelope Island

It was a busy week and I did take tons of images from Antelope Island, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County and yesterday in Tooele County. On Antelope Island the Chukars were up calling on the rocks or foraging in the grasses near Sagebrush. This one perched on a rock that had water in the background that was a brilliant blue.

California Gull

After some much needed rain there were a few puddles in areas of the island and this California Gull was taking full advantage of having fresh water available for a bath. In my opinion that is a pretty handsome looking bird with its head held tall and its wings spread.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was hopping with activity, the male Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds seemed to be calling all over the auto tour route. The wind was blowing while this male was perched on the Phragmites stalk, it was like trying to photograph a bird on a long, thin spring the way it bounced around in the wind. I dumped quite a few images into my delete bin because of that wind & less than sharp images.

Clark’s Grebe

Clark’s Grebes were also a highlight, who couldn’t appreciate these striking Grebes with their black and white plumage, cherry red eyes, sharp bill, curvy neck and black cap? I sure enjoy watching and photographing them especially during this time of the year when they are defending their territories. One never knows when the action might start!

Eastern Kingbird

I was tickled to see both Western and Eastern Kingbirds at the refuge, their chattering makes me want to giggle. I couldn’t tell what this Eastern Kingbird was chattering at, maybe there was another bird outside of my field of view. At any rate, I think that both kingbird species are dapper looking birds.

Forster’s Tern

Forster’s Terns were making their presence on the refuge known as they cruised over the fresh water impoundment in search of prey and making spectacular dives when they located it. With a black cap and black eyes it can be a challenge to get a catch light in their eyes and in this frame I was delighted to have such great light.

Lark Sparrow

Tooele County offered fine feathered friends too, like this handsome Lark Sparrow perched on rusty old barbed wire. Normally I prefer natural perches but there is something about rusty barbed wire that appeals to me.

Mourning Dove

It seem to me that the Mourning Dove population has blossomed this spring, I am seeing them in high numbers in places I normally don’t see many. This dove was perching along side a road on a well weathered fence post in the early morning light.

These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!

Mia

Big, beautiful American White Pelicans

By Mia McPherson, on May 24th, 2013%

Adult American White Pelican

Yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge there were two American White Pelicans that were close enough to photograph as they floated on the Bear River, it was a cloudless morning so the river was a gorgeous blue which always sets off the whites of these big, beautiful birds.

American White Pelican on the Bear River

This pelican was sporting a long, shaggy “do” that would stand straight up as the wind blew. Photographing these large white birds can present exposure challenges, I tossed a few over exposed images into my delete bin but for the most part the series I took came out very well.

American White Pelicans breed here in Utah and many nest on isolated islands in the Great Salt Lake, they often fly long distances to freshwater locations such as Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to capture fish for their young as the Great Salt Lake near those islands is too hyper saline to have fish.

Happy Friday,

Mia

Bird Sampler for April 28 through May 4, 2013

By Mia McPherson, on May 4th, 2013%

Burrowing Owl adult

I wanted to share a sampler of bird images that I have taken over the past week in Davis and Box Elder Counties.

I took this Burrowing Owl image two days ago. There is just something about these owls that delights me every time I see them.

Canada Goose

Canada Geese are common here in northern Utah but they aren’t common every where, just ask people in Florida. I like Canada Geese.

Killdeer on a rock

Some of the noisiest shorebirds I have ever come across are the Killdeer though this one was silent it did perched nicely on top of a rock at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. I really like the smooth background.

Male Ring-necked Pheasant

I photographed this male Ring-necked Pheasant displaying near the road that goes to the auto tour route of Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, if there was another male in the area I could not see it but this pose indicates the type of territorial behavior I see when two male pheasants are getting ready to have it out.

Hundreds of (thousands) swallows at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge

The air is alive with midges and swallows at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, I can’t tell how many of the 5 species that inhabit the refuge are in this frame but the huge numbers of swallows is very impressive.

Turkey Vulture in Box Elder County

The Turkey Vultures came back to Utah several weeks ago but I haven’t had many opportunities to photograph them this spring, two days ago we came across some that were warming in the early morning sunlight in Box Elder County. I’m not sure Turkey Vultures could be called beautiful but they are a fascinating species and they do clean up the environment.

Western Grebes in a courtship display

I saw these two Western Grebes displaying and hoped that they would rush, they did but they rushed with their backs to me. I’ll keep trying to get them rushing towards me.

Western Meadowlark stretching

Western Meadowlarks are every where, singing from the tops of their perches, flitting about in a hurry, preening and stretching like this one on Antelope Island.

I saw many more birds in the past week, all of them wonderful, all of them fascinating and every one a great subject to photograph.

Mia

Midges of Bear River National Wildlife Refuge and beyond

By Mia McPherson, on May 1st, 2013%

A Single Midge

Midges are an important food source for the birds that live and breed in the marshes and wetlands of Utah and they have recently begun to hatch. I captured a frame where I could zoom in on a single midge the other day and wanted to share it. It might look a little like a mosquito but they do not bite and they do not make the buzzing noise that mosquitoes do. You can hear them if you stop and listen near the columns of midges you can find at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge.

Midges on Cattails

I don’t know if there are two or more species of midges in this image or if they are all the same species but I see some that are smaller than others, some that are grayer and some that are much darker than others that are near them as they rest on cattails.

Midges on Rushes

This is another close up of midges resting on rushes at Bear River. Next to the road; which is very close to the water, the vegetation can be covered with midges. The midges do swarm around the cars on the auto tour route and they can tickle when they land on bare skin but they don’t bite.

Midge Tornadoes

I’ve posted this image before on a post I published two years ago titled “Midges and Birds – Food for Thought” but wanted to share again how the columns of midges can look like mini tornadoes along the auto tour route at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge. Those dark columns are hundreds of thousands of midges.

Coyote with a Midge in the frame

Midges can show up in images unexpectedly as one did in this image of a Coyote I photographed a few days ago on Antelope Island. At the time I took this I had no idea there was a visible midge in the upper right hand corner. I also have plenty of bird images where midges can be seen flying next to a bird or where they are floating on the water.

The midges aren’t to be confused with the biting gnats (no-see-ums) that are out biting every unsuspecting person on Antelope Island right now, no-see-ums are much smaller than these midges.

Mia