{"id":100463,"date":"2022-03-07T05:22:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T12:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=100463"},"modified":"2022-03-07T05:24:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T12:24:00","slug":"tundra-swan-in-flight-in-early-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/07\/tundra-swan-in-flight-in-early-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Tundra Swan In Flight In Early Morning Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100460 size-full\" title=\"Tundra Swan flight in early morning light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826.jpg\" alt=\"Tundra Swan flight in early morning light, 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\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Tundra Swan flight in early morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I took this Tundra Swan photo on my most recent trip up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear-river-migratory-bird\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> when I came upon hundreds of these swans on the marsh. Finding the swans was a visual and auditory delight. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/135447\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">calls<\/span><\/a> touch something deep inside of me.<\/p>\n<p>The soft light, pastel colors, marsh vegetation and the sliver of the pale blue sky combined with the swan in flight are what I like about this Tundra Swan photo. I also like that I can see the eye of the swan even though it was basically flying away from me.<\/p>\n<p>My last trip of to the refuge was peaceful, relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of my leisurely drive around the auto tour loop. I pushed all the negativity of day to day life from my mind and embraced all the positivity that I find in nature. I don&#8217;t go out into the field just to take photos although the images are a large part of my journeys. I go out into the field because it soothes me. Seeing and listening to these swans had that effect on me.<\/p>\n<p>When the Tundra Swans leave for their breeding grounds I will miss them but that also means that other birds will be arriving on spring migration and the seasonal cycle of all the birds in my life continues.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/tundra-swan-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Tundra Swan photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I took this Tundra Swan photo on my most recent trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge when I came upon hundreds of these swans on the marsh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100460,"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":[124,27,1148,158,26],"tags":[4004,4431,4052,4122,4094,12762,4059,6428,4018,4628,3122,2117,6917,2063,4095,373],"class_list":["post-100463","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-tundra-swans","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-cygnus-columbianus","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-marsh","tag-pastel","tag-phragmites","tag-phrags","tag-sky","tag-swan","tag-swans","tag-tundra-swan","tag-vegetation","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tundra-swan-flight-pastel-mia-mcpherson-6826.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-q8n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80995,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/11\/swan-day-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":0},"title":"Swan Day in Utah &#8211; March 13, 2021","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 11, 2021","format":"chat","excerpt":"This Saturday, March 13th, is Swan Day here in Utah. It is a day to celebrate these large, white, beautiful birds that spend time here during the winter.","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":"Tundra Swans and winter sky, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-cloudy-sky-mia-mcpherson-8371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-cloudy-sky-mia-mcpherson-8371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-cloudy-sky-mia-mcpherson-8371.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-cloudy-sky-mia-mcpherson-8371.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50985,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/14\/photographing-a-pair-of-tundra-swans-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":1},"title":"Photographing a Pair of Tundra Swans in Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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":"Tundra Swan pair in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-mia-mcpherson-2136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-mia-mcpherson-2136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-mia-mcpherson-2136.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-mia-mcpherson-2136.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50879,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/04\/photographing-the-tundra-swans-of-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":2},"title":"Photographing the Tundra Swans of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a blast photographing the Tundra Swans at the refuge yesterday and for the first time in a while I forgot about practically everything but the birds in front of me and the peace I find at the 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":"Tundra Swan adult flying by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8893.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8893.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51386,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/26\/tundra-swans-of-bear-river-mbr-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":3},"title":"Tundra Swans Of Bear River MBR On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing a few flocks of Tundra Swans in flight two days in northern Utah was a reminder that these big, white swans have already begun their migration to their breeding grounds on the tundra of northern Canada and Alaska.","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":"Tundra Swans flying east over the marsh at Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":99817,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/11\/february-tundra-swan-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":4},"title":"February Tundra Swan Photos Plus Some Very Early Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Late last month I mentioned that I hadn't yet gotten the Tundra Swan photos that I wanted to take. Yesterday at Bear River MBR I was delighted to remedy that situation.","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":"Tundra Swan stink eye, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/tundra-swan-adult-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-0486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/tundra-swan-adult-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-0486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/tundra-swan-adult-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-0486.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/tundra-swan-adult-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-0486.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20879,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/06\/the-tundra-swans-of-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":100463,"position":5},"title":"Tundra Swans of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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":"Lone Tundra Swan and the snowy Promontory Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8218.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-flight-mia-mcpherson-8218.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\/100463","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=100463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}