{"id":27382,"date":"2015-08-10T05:54:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T11:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27382"},"modified":"2025-08-28T06:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T11:34:04","slug":"a-black-necked-stilt-and-my-concerns-about-the-future-of-the-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/10\/a-black-necked-stilt-and-my-concerns-about-the-future-of-the-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-necked Stilt And My Concerns About The Future Of The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Black-necked Stilt foraging in the Bear River – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It was pretty birdy yesterday morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and Black-necked Stilts are every where. In the July Waterbird Survey for the refuge Black-necked Stilts numbers were at 12,452 which made them the most numerous shorebirds on the refuge at the time the survey was completed.<\/p>\n

Some of the water has been been lowered on the refuge and this young stilt was taking advantage of that by feeding in a section of the Bear River that typically has higher water.<\/p>\n

But even while I am taking images of these fascinating birds and enjoying the spectacular scenery I have concerns about the future of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the life within it.<\/p>\n

The Bear River is extremely important not just for the birds and wildlife on the refuge but also for the health of the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

I came across this video a few days ago and wanted to share it with all of you who would like to know more about the Great Salt Lake ecosystem and climate change<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a proposal to dam the Bear River upstream that could cause a negative effect by reducing the flow of water to the refuge and the Great Salt Lake. It has happened before.<\/p>\n

The marshes could dry up just like they did in the early 1900’s when large quantities of water were diverted for settlements and farms.<\/p>\n

By 1920 only a few thousand acres of wetlands remained which seriously affected the survival of migrating birds. In 1928 thousands upon thousands of birds died from avian botulism and when the public took action Congress passed an act that created the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n

Dikes and water control methods were created and the refuge began to flourish once more.<\/p>\n

If the Bear River is dammed upstream I have to wonder if we will see history repeating itself but made even worse by climate change, reduced snow pack and rising temperatures and how that will impact the refuge.<\/p>\n

I hate to be so glum on a Monday morning but I am concerned.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Black-necked Stilt photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the Bear River is dammed upstream I have to wonder if we will see history repeating itself but made even worse by climate change, reduced snow pack and rising temperatures and how that will impact the refuge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153615,"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":[124,27,1463,1148,26],"tags":[4529,4021,1464,3952,4370,4067,4071,610,274,3950,3951,3953,4193],"class_list":["post-27382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-black-necked-stilts","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-bear-river","tag-bird-photography","tag-black-necked-stilt","tag-great-salt-lake-ecosystem","tag-himantopus-mexicanus","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marshes","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-stilt","tag-stilts","tag-water-conservation","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-mia-mcpherson-3030.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-77E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15709,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/26\/a-juvenile-black-necked-stilt-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":27382,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Black-necked Stilt at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I had an opportunity to photograph this juvenile Black-necked Stilt as it rested along the auto tour route at the refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Resting juvenile Black-necked Stilt at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/black-necked-stilt-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1373.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/black-necked-stilt-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1373.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Black-necked Stilts in the marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilts-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-0446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilts-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-0446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilts-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-0446.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilts-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-0446.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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grounds to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and other locations in Utah. Black-necked Stilts are black and white shorebirds with long pink to reddish legs, thin black bills and lovely red eyes.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Black-necked Stilt in shallow water at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59137,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/21\/female-and-male-black-necked-stilts\/","url_meta":{"origin":27382,"position":4},"title":"Female And Male Black-necked Stilts","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"These two Black-necked Stilt photos were taken 9 days ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and I thought they could easily show the difference between the female and male of this species.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Resting female Black-necked Stilt, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-necked-stilt-adult-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-necked-stilt-adult-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-necked-stilt-adult-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-necked-stilt-adult-female-resting-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6235,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/01\/adult-black-necked-stilt\/","url_meta":{"origin":27382,"position":5},"title":"Adult Black-necked Stilt","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a simple image of a male Black-necked Stilt taken earlier this year at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge. Very graceful birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Male Black-necked Stilt feeding at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-necked-stilt-feeding-mia-mcpherson-5272.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-necked-stilt-feeding-mia-mcpherson-5272.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-necked-stilt-feeding-mia-mcpherson-5272.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-necked-stilt-feeding-mia-mcpherson-5272.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\/27382","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=27382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}