{"id":34790,"date":"2016-01-13T05:38:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34790"},"modified":"2025-09-30T18:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T23:03:20","slug":"bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/13\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WintryWintry View of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge – cell phone photo
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> is a winter wonderland right now and although it is very quiet it is still teeming with life. I can’t really express how much this refuge means to me in words so I try to do it with my images throughout the year. Each season has its own beauty on the refuge, each one is a visual delight.<\/p>\n

Yesterday while on the auto tour route I couldn’t help but think of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> and the hostile, flag-waving, extremist, constitutionally-challenged, home grown terrorists<\/strong><\/span> that are occupying and destroying a national treasure in eastern Oregon.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen the videos of them tearing out the fences and covering up the refuge signs with tarps. I couldn’t help but think of the damage they are doing.<\/p>\n

It didn’t ruin my trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but it sure did make me realize once again that we need to fight<\/em> to keep public land public.<\/p>\n

We need to come together across party lines and vote out the politicians who are attempting to take over our public lands. We need to take them down<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I hope that the siege of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is over soon and that all of the illegal occupiers are tried then sentenced to prison where they belong.<\/p>\n

Justice needs to be served.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk on Road Patrol – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday a frost covered Rough-legged Hawk was perched on a one-way road sign on the north side of the auto tour loop, it was about 8\u00b0F and the hawk was sticky.<\/p>\n

For awhile the Rough-legged Hawk just looked around the marsh and I could see the sunlight sparkling on the bits of frost on its plumage.<\/p>\n

It was almost as if this hawk was pointing the way down the road.<\/p>\n

I’m so glad we have refuges where sights like this can been seen, photographed and enjoyed by all.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is a winter wonderland right now and although it is very quiet it is still teeming with life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158681,"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":[124,27,1148,1087,26],"tags":[2663,4275,3983,4169,2386,4094,4104,4877,153,6981,4876,1648,4050,3964,4095,373],"class_list":["post-34790","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-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-frost","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-public-lands","tag-raptors","tag-refuges","tag-road-sign","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-snow","tag-stretching","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bear-river-winter-mia-mcpherson-2792.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-938","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119249,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/19\/rough-legged-hawk-in-dense-fog\/","url_meta":{"origin":34790,"position":0},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk In Dense Fog","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Some bird photographers might not share a photo like this Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog that I took two years ago today at Bear River Migratory Bird 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":"Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/25\/rough-legged-hawk-season-has-begun\/","url_meta":{"origin":34790,"position":1},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk Season Has Begun","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Rough-legged Hawk season has begun in northern Utah. I spotted my first of season Rough-legged Hawks on the wing last Friday.","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 light morph Rough-legged Hawk on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I stopped to take photos of an adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched on a driftwood snag over the Bear River when I was leaving Bear River MBR four days ago.","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":"Adult Rough-legged Hawk perched over the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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