{"id":125851,"date":"2024-03-25T04:51:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T10:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=125851"},"modified":"2025-05-07T20:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T01:37:12","slug":"tree-swallows-have-migrated-into-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/25\/tree-swallows-have-migrated-into-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Swallows Have Migrated Into Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the weekend, I read on Facebook that Tree Swallows have migrated back into northern Utah for their breeding season. I am so excited about that news!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-143296 size-full\" title=\"Tree Swallow peeking out of a natural nesting cavity in the High Uintas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg\" alt=\"Tree Swallow peeking out of a natural nesting cavity in the High Uintas, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Tree Swallow peeking out of a natural nesting cavity in the High Uintas \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On my most recent trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, when I saw that the midges were out, I knew that I could expect the swallows to return soon. I wasn&#8217;t wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In northern Utah, we can expect to see Barn, Bank, Cliff, Rough-winged, Violet-green, and Tree Swallows on the wing in the very near future.<\/p>\n<p>I know that Tree Swallows can be rather noisy at times, but I adore their <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/575294\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">calls<\/span><\/a>. I also enjoy seeing their metallic blue plumage as they whiz by.<\/p>\n<p>Tree Swallows will nest in human made nesting boxes or natural cavities created by other cavity nesting birds. They can not create their own nesting cavities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-wp-editing=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-143299 size-full\" title=\"Tree Swallow on top of a nesting box\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678.jpg\" alt=\"Tree Swallow on top of a nesting box, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" 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\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-nest-box-montana-mia-mcpherson-0678.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Tree Swallow on top of a nesting box \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The weather has kept me inside, but perhaps I will find time to drive to my local ponds and see if any of the swallows have shown up there today. If there is a break in the clouds, I could sure use a short nature break!<\/p>\n<p>Spring is here, and migrant birds, including the Tree Swallows, are showing up. I hope they have a great breeding season this year.<\/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\/tree-swallow-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Tree Swallow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<p>The first Tree Swallow female photo was taken in 2022 in the High Uintas of Utah. The second Tree Swallow male photo was taken in 2015 in the Centennial Valley of Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the weekend, I read on Facebook that Tree Swallows have migrated back into Northern Utah for their breeding season. I am so excited about that news!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143296,"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":[1513,27,223,1212,12,608,1731,2171,8514,3886,26],"tags":[4004,1919,3803,4142,4070,5370,4062,4069,6905,4075,2279,3976,9662,2580,4450,4104,6576,4046,7791,165,1732,4807,3470,4377,1523,10660,30],"class_list":["post-125851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-high-uintas-utah","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-summit-county-utah","category-tree-swallows","category-uinta-mountains","category-uinta-national-forest","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-aspen","tag-aspens","tag-close-up","tag-female","tag-forest","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-natural","tag-nest","tag-nest-box","tag-nesting","tag-nesting-box","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-nesting-season","tag-perched","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-portrait","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-spring","tag-summit-county-2","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree-swallow","tag-tree-trunk","tag-utah-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-wJR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/08\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-an-aspen\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":0},"title":"Tree Swallow Nesting In An Aspen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While up high in the Uinta Mountains yesterday morning I photographed this female Tree Swallow checking out a nesting cavity in a Quaking Aspen.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tree Swallow portrait at aspen nest, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52400,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/03\/nesting-tree-swallows-in-the-high-uintas\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":1},"title":"Nesting Tree Swallows in the High Uintas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"While I photographed nesting House Wrens in the High Uintas the last day of May I also photographed nesting Tree Swallows in the same Aspen tree in a cavity a bit lower on the trunk.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a male Tree Swallow at a nesting cavity, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3623.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3623.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/25\/tree-swallows-nesting-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":2},"title":"Tree Swallows Nesting In The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tree Swallows and other birds should be nesting in the Uinta Mountains by now and I am itching to hop into my Jeep to drive up there to find them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Tree Swallow at nest entrance, Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82114,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/23\/tree-swallows-have-returned\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":3},"title":"Tree Swallows Have Returned","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A little birdie told me that Tree Swallows returned to the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge about the middle of this month.","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 Tree Swallows in the marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63591,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/30\/visions-of-spring-and-nesting-house-wrens\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":4},"title":"Visions Of Spring And Nesting House Wrens","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"These nesting House Wren photos were taken two years ago at the end of May high up in the Uinta Mountains where stands of aspens are used as nesting trees.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult House Wren on the outside of its nest, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58132,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/25\/yellow-warbler-high-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":125851,"position":5},"title":"Yellow Warbler High In The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a \"mobile\" blind at the edge of a dirt road.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler hanging from an aspen, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.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\/125851","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=125851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}