{"id":100169,"date":"2022-02-23T05:49:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T12:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=100169"},"modified":"2022-11-15T03:37:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T10:37:13","slug":"great-blue-heron-on-the-bear-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/23\/great-blue-heron-on-the-bear-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron On The Bear River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100161 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron warming up on a February morning\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron warming up on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4712.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron warming up on a February morning \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On my last trip up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River MBR<\/span><\/a> when I found a Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River I considered not taking any images of it. In the past month or so I have photographed quite a few Great Blue Herons. I kind of felt as if I have been flooding my blog with these large wading birds.<\/p>\n<p>But a bird is a bird is a bird.<\/p>\n<p>This Great Blue Heron was warming up in the sunlight at 8:40 am. By that time of the morning I was wishing that my feet and toes were a bit warmer too.<\/p>\n<p>I liked how some of the marsh vegetation was still in the shadows and how there was a thin skim of ice on the edge of the river.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100163 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this photo I decided to refocus and show the heron on the left side of the frame with all of the marsh vegetation lit up nicely by the sun. I like both images of the Great Blue Heron. I think I like the first photo more because the shadows seem to add more depth to image.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the temptation to <em>not<\/em> take photos of this heron I am glad that I resisted, took photos of the bird and pushed the negative thoughts straight out of my mind.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/great-blue-heron-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On my last trip up to Bear River MBR when I found a Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River I considered not taking any images of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,166,26],"tags":[4117,7476,4529,3987,627,626,4064,4094,4059,6428,12679,4891,6917,313,4985,3996,4095,373],"class_list":["post-100169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-bank","tag-bear-river","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-ice","tag-marsh","tag-phragmites","tag-phrags","tag-river-bank","tag-shore","tag-vegetation","tag-wading-birds","tag-warming-up","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-q3D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62505,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/08\/photographing-great-blue-herons-on-the-frozen-marshes-of-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":0},"title":"Photographing Great Blue Herons On The Frozen Marshes Of Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent time focusing on photographing Great Blue Herons on the frozen marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and the frozen marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0568.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0568.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0568.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0568.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57500,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/27\/solitary-great-blue-heron-looking-over-the-marsh-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":1},"title":"Solitary Great Blue Heron Looking Over The Marsh At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It really is a simple Great Blue Heron photo with the marsh, a stationary wading bird, vibrant spring growth and water at the top of the frame but it is also a very calming image for me because for a few seconds time stood as still as the heron.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron looking over the marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-land-mia-mcpherson-4526.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-land-mia-mcpherson-4526.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-land-mia-mcpherson-4526.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-land-mia-mcpherson-4526.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48420,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/11\/wading-birds-at-bear-river-mbr-yesterday\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":2},"title":"Wading Birds At Bear River MBR Yesterday","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":117781,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/03\/great-blue-heron-in-a-natural-alcove\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron In A Natural Alcove","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite photos from my trip to Bear River MBR last Monday was of this Great Blue Heron in a natural alcove along the bank of the Bear River.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Great Blue Heron in a natural alcove, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-alcove-mia-mcpherson-6026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-alcove-mia-mcpherson-6026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-alcove-mia-mcpherson-6026.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-alcove-mia-mcpherson-6026.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121522,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/19\/my-video-with-a-surprise-great-blue-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":4},"title":"My Video With A Surprise Great Blue Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip up to Bear River MBR, I stopped to take a video on the auto tour loop, and a Great Blue Heron surprised me by flying into view over the river.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Riverbank Great Blue Heron adult, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-above-the-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-4839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-above-the-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-4839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-above-the-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-4839.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-above-the-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-4839.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84746,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/17\/spring-great-blue-heron-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":100169,"position":5},"title":"Spring Great Blue Heron Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The first Great Blue Heron was quietly wading through the water in search of prey and the second heron was looking at something in the distance.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Great Blue Heron adult, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-marsh-spring-mia-mcpherson-5605.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-marsh-spring-mia-mcpherson-5605.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-marsh-spring-mia-mcpherson-5605.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-marsh-spring-mia-mcpherson-5605.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}