{"id":27042,"date":"2015-08-03T06:18:28","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T12:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27042"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:11:21","slug":"young-wilsons-phalaropes-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/03\/young-wilsons-phalaropes-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Wilson&#8217;s Phalaropes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am seeing more and more Wilson&#8217;s Phalaropes at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and the majority of the birds I see are hatch year birds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-27040 size-full\" title=\"Young Wilson's Phalarope at Bear River NWR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994.jpg\" alt=\"Young Wilson's Phalarope at Bear River NWR\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" 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\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Young Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope at Bear River MBR &#8211; Nikon D810, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I see more adult phalaropes out on the Great Salt Lake near the causeway to Antelope Island State Park right now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-27041 size-full\" title=\"Juvenile Wilson's Phalarope foraging\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2000.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2000.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile Wilson's Phalarope foraging\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" 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\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2000-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2000-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2000.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Juvenile Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope foraging &#8211; Nikon D810, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This juvenile Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope was feeding near the south side of the auto tour route yesterday with stilts and avocets and more phalaropes.<\/p>\n<p>This one happened to be the closest to the road. It looks a bit older than the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/25\/juvenile-wilsons-phalarope\/\">young phalarope<\/a><\/span> I posted late last month because the downy fuzz on the back of the head and neck shown on that bird isn&#8217;t present on this juvenile.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>It is a rainy day here so I might finally be able to catch up on a few things!<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wilsons-phalarope-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Wilson\u2019s Phalarope photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am seeing more and more Wilson&#8217;s Phalaropes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the majority of the birds I see are hatch year birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27040,"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":[124,27,1148,26,1140],"tags":[4136,4341,4067,4071,3915,3824,4287,274,2442,4193],"class_list":["post-27042","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-utah","category-wilsons-phalaropes","tag-foraging","tag-hatch-year-bird","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-phalarope","tag-phalaropes","tag-phalaropus-tricolor","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-wilsons-phalarope","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1994.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-72a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105614,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/30\/two-phalarope-species-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":0},"title":"Two Phalarope Species At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago after leaving the auto tour route at Bear River MBR I was able to photograph two phalarope species in a wetlands that were feeding side by side.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-necked Phalarope in the wetlands of Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-necked-phalarope-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-9376.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-necked-phalarope-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-9376.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-necked-phalarope-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-9376.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-necked-phalarope-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-9376.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26892,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/25\/juvenile-wilsons-phalarope\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear River National Wildlife Refuge was lovely yesterday morning and one of the nice surprises I found was this juvenile Wilson's Phalarope on the west side of the auto tour route.","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":"Juvenile Wilson\u2019s Phalarope, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7234.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7234.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7234.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/wilsons-phalarope-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7234.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/09\/missing-the-birds-of-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":2},"title":"Missing the Birds of Bear River MBR &#038; Spring Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route is still closed and many of the birders, bird photographers and nature lovers are itching to know what birds are there because after all spring migration is an exciting time at the refuge.","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":"Flock of Long-billed Dowitchers in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/long-billed-dowitchers-flock-mia-mcpherson-9688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/long-billed-dowitchers-flock-mia-mcpherson-9688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/long-billed-dowitchers-flock-mia-mcpherson-9688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/long-billed-dowitchers-flock-mia-mcpherson-9688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8700,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/25\/wilsons-phalarope-a-whirligig-bird\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":3},"title":"Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope &#8211; A Whirligig Bird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In early June while in western Montana there was a pair of Wilson's Phalaropes on a small, privately owned pond near a gravel road foraging for prey that I couldn't resist photographing.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Wilson\u2019s Phalarope foraging, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-mia-mcpherson-4190.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-mia-mcpherson-4190.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-mia-mcpherson-4190.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-mia-mcpherson-4190.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25504,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/06\/16\/a-wilsons-phalarope-and-a-midge-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":4},"title":"Wilson&#8217;s Phalarope And A Midge At Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On my recent trip to Idaho and Montana I didn't have many opportunities with Wilson's Phalaropes except for one at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge's Lower Lake.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wilson's Phalarope and a Midge, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wilsons-phalarope-midge-mia-mcpherson-5648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wilsons-phalarope-midge-mia-mcpherson-5648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wilsons-phalarope-midge-mia-mcpherson-5648.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wilsons-phalarope-midge-mia-mcpherson-5648.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3928,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/31\/a-rainbow-and-wilsons-phalaropes\/","url_meta":{"origin":27042,"position":5},"title":"Rainbow and Wilson&#8217;s Phalaropes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 is just hours away , I wanted to do one more blog post for the year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of Wilson\u2019s Phalaropes in a rainstorm with a rainbow, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-flock-rainbow-flight-mia-mcpherson-6344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-flock-rainbow-flight-mia-mcpherson-6344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-flock-rainbow-flight-mia-mcpherson-6344.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wilsons-phalarope-flock-rainbow-flight-mia-mcpherson-6344.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\/27042","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=27042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}