{"id":100612,"date":"2022-03-12T05:05:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T12:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=100612"},"modified":"2024-01-03T03:24:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T10:24:19","slug":"ducks-on-the-wing-over-the-marsh-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/12\/ducks-on-the-wing-over-the-marsh-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks On The Wing Over The Marsh At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100609 size-full\" title=\"Ducks on the wing over the marsh at Bear River MBR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg\" alt=\"Ducks on the wing over the marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"950\" height=\"507\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27507%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20950%20507%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27507%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-200x107.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-250x133.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-400x213.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-600x320.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540-800x427.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg 950w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Ducks on the wing over the marsh at Bear River MBR \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>An adult Bald Eagle had flown over the marsh which stirred up most of the ducks and some of the Canada Geese.<\/p>\n<p>The mountains in the background of this image are in the Promontory Range which are located west of the refuge.<\/p>\n<p>There are five species of dabbling ducks in flight in this photo. There are Mallards, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Northern Pintails and a single Green-winged Teal. All of the ducks are small in the frame. I find this photo appealing because it conveys a sense of place that a frame filling image of any of these ducks simply can&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>I wish that I would have had better light and light angle when I took this photo but unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I arrived at the refuge much later than I normally do. Also, I wasn&#8217;t driving myself that day so I had zero control over the light angle.<\/p>\n<p>It was a very uncomfortable trip to the refuge. The temps were in the low 20&#8217;s and there was a 30 to 35 mph north wind blowing. I felt as if I was riding at the center of a super strength, industrial deep freezer. I had no heat, no heated seat to sit on and the open windows blew ice cold air into my eyes the entire time. I swear that the tears from that nasty wind blowing into my eyes made tearcicles on my eyelashes.<\/p>\n<p>I was dressed for the weather, had dressed in layers, wore thick socks, warm boots, and gloves and I still froze. My feet didn&#8217;t warm up until I was about half an hour south of the refuge on my way home. It was quite a switch from when I drove up to the refuge on Monday where even though it was just as cold I didn&#8217;t feel chilly the entire morning.<\/p>\n<p>I photographed other birds on the trip up to the refuge that day. I may or may not share some of those photos and write about the stories behind the images. Right now when I look at them all I can think about is how miserable I was that morning and I shiver.<\/p>\n<p>But&#8230; Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/swans-geese-and-ducks\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my duck, swan and geese photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I took this photo of ducks on the wing over the marsh on my most recent trip up to the wetlands of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100609,"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":[6312,124,27,1148,1175,965,966,429,26],"tags":[4004,6313,978,4534,4237,4052,4122,4294,1604,6314,4094,4069,2441,1137,6384,4528,4050,975,4095,373],"class_list":["post-100612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-wigeons","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-green-winged-teals","category-mallards","category-northern-pintails","category-northern-shovelers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-wigeon","tag-anas-acuta","tag-anas-crecca","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-green-winged-teal","tag-mallard","tag-mareca-americana","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-northern-pintail","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-on-the-wing","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-snow","tag-spatula-clypeata","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qaM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100485,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/08\/drake-northern-pintail-lift-off-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":0},"title":"Drake Northern Pintail Lift Off Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning and came home with some drake Northern Pintail lift off images that I am pleased with.","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":"Drake Northern Pintail lifting off from water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119471,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/03\/drake-northern-pintail-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":1},"title":"Drake Northern Pintail At Bear River MBR On New Year&#8217;s Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thrilled to find and photograph a handsome drake Northern Pintail out on the auto tour loop of Bear River MBR on New Year's Day morning.","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":"Drake Northern Pintail shaking his feathers, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-new-years-day-mia-mcpherson-1004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-new-years-day-mia-mcpherson-1004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-new-years-day-mia-mcpherson-1004.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-new-years-day-mia-mcpherson-1004.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/04\/fun-drake-mallard-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":2},"title":"Fun Drake Mallard At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On New Year's Day morning, I had fun photographing a drake Mallard from the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge as he lifted off from the marsh.","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":"Drake Mallard in flight on New Year's Day, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-flight-funny-mia-mcpherson-0815.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-flight-funny-mia-mcpherson-0815.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-flight-funny-mia-mcpherson-0815.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-flight-funny-mia-mcpherson-0815.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120623,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/07\/tundra-swans-and-precious-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":3},"title":"Tundra Swans And Precious Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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":"Immature and adult Tundra Swans flying over the wetlands at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tundra-swans-flight-february-7-2018-mia-mcpherson-0182.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tundra-swans-flight-february-7-2018-mia-mcpherson-0182.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tundra-swans-flight-february-7-2018-mia-mcpherson-0182.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tundra-swans-flight-february-7-2018-mia-mcpherson-0182.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/18\/drake-green-winged-teal-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":4},"title":"Drake Green-winged Teal At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to take close up photos of a drake Green-winged Teal paddling away from me at 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":"Drake Green-winged Teal paddling by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100674,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/14\/young-great-blue-heron-in-front-of-the-promontory-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":100612,"position":5},"title":"Young Great Blue Heron In Front Of The Promontory Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked this image of an immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of the snow covered Promontory Mountains even though the heron is small in the frame.","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":"Immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of snow covered mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.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\/100612","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=100612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}