{"id":27419,"date":"2015-08-14T04:43:53","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T10:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27419"},"modified":"2025-06-27T08:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:49:19","slug":"a-flurry-of-snowies-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/14\/a-flurry-of-snowies-in-august\/","title":{"rendered":"Flurry of Snowies in August"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was lots of bird activity yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and a flurry of Snowies I spotted kept things interesting early in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret scratching – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

These lovely, white wading birds had congregated in one area where the river was low and where the light was good.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret about to scratch – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

By this time of the year Snowy Egrets are done with nesting and brooding their young.\u00a0 I only saw adults at this location but from my visits to the refuge lately I would say they had a successful breeding season just by the large numbers of Snowy Egrets I have seen.<\/p>\n

\"ReallyReally big stretch from a Snowy Egret – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Snowy Egrets yesterday were foraging, resting, preening, stretching, chasing each other around and all of them were avoiding one juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron who seemed to have staked out the area as its territory.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret preening on a perch in the Bear River – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a bright, clear morning so exposing the bright white plumage of the egrets correctly against the darker water was a challenge because whites are easy to blow out which leaves the plumage without fine details.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret about to land – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/3200, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Snowy Egret was landing after being chased off a rock in the river by the young Black-crowned Night Heron. I sure like the spread wings, flared tail and great view of the “Golden Slippers” that Snowy Egrets are known for.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret rousing after a preening session – Nikon D810, f13, 1\/640, ISO 400, – 0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of egrets has many collective nouns including a “congregation”, “heronry”, “RSVP”, “skewer” and “wedge” but I think that a “flurry” best describes a group of Snowy Egrets. I like seeing a flurry of Snowy Egrets any time of the year.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

There was lots of bird activity yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and a flurry of Snowy Egrets kept things interesting early in the morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149479,"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":[124,27,1148,255,26],"tags":[4004,4529,3954,743,351,4120,5025,4052,3955,4122,7768,4123,4094,4019,3199,4541,4502,3988,4826,3964,313,4095],"class_list":["post-27419","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-snowy-egrets","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bear-river","tag-congregation","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-feathers","tag-flight","tag-flurry","tag-flying","tag-land","tag-landing","tag-marsh","tag-preening-2","tag-rousing","tag-scratching","tag-shaking","tag-snowy-egret","tag-stretch","tag-stretching","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-4619.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-78f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35495,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/12\/snowy-egrets-of-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":27419,"position":0},"title":"Snowy Egrets of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Snowy Egrets of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge never fail to delight me with their bright white plumage, golden feet, bright yellow lores and feathery plumes.","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":"Snowy Egret scratching its neck, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-scratching-mia-mcpherson-4572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-scratching-mia-mcpherson-4572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked the crouched position of this Snowy Egret as it was about to strike the prey it was hunting and when it struck it did capture and eat the small fish.","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":"Snowy Egret about to strike prey at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-about-to-strike-mia-mcpherson-5661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-about-to-strike-mia-mcpherson-5661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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