{"id":4649,"date":"2012-03-18T03:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-03-18T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:16:08","slug":"american-avocets-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/18\/american-avocets-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"American Avocets at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

American Avocets are birds that I look forward to seeing in spring. I have already seen some from a distance this year. They are not year round residents in Utah although I have seen them as late as December a few times.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Avocet foraging in a shallow pond – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Avocets are long-legged shorebirds that forage in the shallows of the lakes, ponds and marshes in Utah. They also\u00a0breed here in areas near where they\u00a0find their prey.\u00a0\u00a0I have seen them numbering in the thousands just by making one loop of the auto tour at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Avocet at the edge of the marsh – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1500, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed these birds last year in May\u00a0after the Avocets\u00a0had begun their mating rituals and were in the process of selecting nesting sites.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the roads to the auto tour loop were closed from the end of May until September due to road construction that took most of two summers and that meant not seeing the birds on the nest or their young.<\/p>\n

Although the paved road is nice I feel that I (and many others) missed out on seeing a lot of wonderful birds and animals during that time period and that perhaps the road could have been created without blocking complete access to this incredible area for the public. My opinion might not be\u00a0popular but roads have been built before that didn’t block traffic for months.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Avocet in the grasses\u00a0– Nikon D200, f9, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I do hope that I will be able to photograph these graceful, elegant birds and their young this year at the refuge, see them foraging in the ponds and listen to their calls at Bear River this year. They are fascinating shorebirds.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

American Avocets are birds that I look forward to seeing in spring. I have already seen some from a distance this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155080,"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":[451,124,27,26],"tags":[1634,5828,5350,4021,4083,4008,4053,519,1984,4177,1735,165,4032],"class_list":["post-4649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-avocets","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-utah","tag-american-avocet","tag-avocet","tag-avocets","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-box-elder-county","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-nature","tag-pond","tag-recurvirostra-americana","tag-shallow","tag-spring","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1cZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113609,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/30\/springtime-adult-american-avocet\/","url_meta":{"origin":4649,"position":0},"title":"Springtime Adult American Avocet","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I wanted to share a photo of an adult American Avocet taken in the wetlands of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Avocet walking in shallow water in spring, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-avocet-springtime-mia-mcpherson-2904.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-avocet-springtime-mia-mcpherson-2904.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-avocet-springtime-mia-mcpherson-2904.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-avocet-springtime-mia-mcpherson-2904.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113164,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/03\/springtime-grebe-and-avocet-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":4649,"position":1},"title":"Springtime Grebe And Avocet Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing two springtime portraits that I took last week at Bear River MBR. The first is a Western Grebe, the second, an American Avocet.","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Springtime Western Grebe portrait, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-grebe-portrait-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-2171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-grebe-portrait-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-2171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-grebe-portrait-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-2171.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-avocet-mia-mcpherson-8543.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51896,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/30\/foraging-american-avocets-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":4649,"position":3},"title":"Foraging American Avocets in Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight days ago it was sunny and bright and I was out having fun photographing a pair of foraging American Avocets in breeding plumage at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging American Avocet in breeding plumage, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-avocet-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-avocet-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult American Avocet in its breeding plumage, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-avocet-adult-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5233.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-avocet-adult-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-avocet-adult-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5233.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-avocet-adult-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5233.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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