{"id":14331,"date":"2014-02-13T06:34:45","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T13:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14331"},"modified":"2024-11-24T03:15:04","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T09:15:04","slug":"caution-spring-birds-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/13\/caution-spring-birds-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Caution: Spring Birds Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-137333 size-full\" title=\"American White Pelican at Bear River Bird Refuge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693.jpg\" alt=\"American White Pelican at Bear River Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"14329\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8693.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">American White Pelican at Bear River Bird Refuge &#8211; Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday a friend reported seeing 50+ American White Pelicans at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area which made me dance at my desk.\u00a0It won&#8217;t be long before the\u00a0American White Pelicans\u00a0are back\u00a0at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/a><\/span> which is where I photographed the pelican in the image above last spring. \u00a0I hope that I&#8217;ll be photographing these birds soon at Bear River NWR and at a pond close to where I live.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-122189 size-full\" title=\"American Avocets and the Great Salt Lake\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg\" alt=\"Avocets and the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"411\" data-id=\"14330\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27411%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20411%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27411%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-200x91.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-250x114.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-300x137.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-400x183.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-600x274.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-768x351.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543-800x365.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">American Avocets and the Great Salt Lake &#8211; Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 278mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>American Avocets will soon make their appearance at Farmington, Bear River and along the causeway to Antelope Island. I checked and the first American Avocets I saw last year was on the 26th of February. Soon hundreds of thousands of American Avocets and other shorebirds will find their way back to Utah and the Salt Lake Valley. I&#8217;m surprised that I haven&#8217;t seen any Yellowlegs yet as they seem to show up early. The American Avocets above were photographed along the causeway to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateparks.utah.gov\/parks\/antelope-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antelope Island State Park<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Why the &#8220;Caution&#8221; in my title?<\/p>\n<p>Because my bird photography addiction is definitely going to get stronger with the arrival of the spring birds ahead!<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/birds\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It won&#8217;t be long before the American White Pelicans are back at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge which is where I photographed the pelican in the image above last spring. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[451,3,511,124,27,1148,1022,26],"tags":[4004,1634,3966,5828,5350,4008,4247,4005,4094,4154,4,706,4177,4156,274,165,4095],"class_list":["post-14331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-avocets","category-white-pelicans","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-avocet","tag-american-white-pelican","tag-avocet","tag-avocets","tag-box-elder-county","tag-flock","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-marsh","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-recurvirostra-americana","tag-resting","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3J9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50948,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/11\/american-avocets-american-white-pelicans-and-sandhill-cranes-have-returned\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":0},"title":"American Avocets, American White Pelicans and Sandhill Cranes Have Returned","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm excited that the American Avocets, American White Pelicans and Sandhill Cranes have returned to northern Utah because I look forward to seeing and photographing them again.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Avocets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican scooping up food from the water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":117537,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/27\/fall-american-white-pelican-images-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":1},"title":"Fall American White Pelican Images At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On this fall morning, I'm sharing three American White Pelican images from Bear River MBR taken earlier this week and a bonus flock photo from last year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican in the fall, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115951,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/18\/american-white-pelican-and-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":2},"title":"American White Pelican And Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, the first bird I photographed was an adult American White Pelican in early morning golden light.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican facing golden morning light, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9077,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/02\/nine-foot-wingspans-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":3},"title":"Nine Foot Wingspans &#8211; American White Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while on the auto tour route of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge the birds that I saw in the highest numbers were American White Pelicans.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican showing the nearly 9 foot wingspan, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19825,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/08\/american-white-pelicans-in-the-spotlight\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":4},"title":"American White Pelicans In The Spotlight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So, since the temperatures have been so much warmer than normal I wouldn't be surprised to see American White Pelicans any day now.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican in the spotlight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":726,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/09\/05\/american-white-pelican-preening-session\/","url_meta":{"origin":14331,"position":5},"title":"American White Pelican Preening Session","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Birds were scarce, the water level in the ponds was low so there were only a few shorebirds. On the way out of the refuge though we stopped to photograph some American White Pelicans and a few Double-crested Cormorants.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican and Double-crested Cormorant scratching, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.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\/14331","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=14331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}