{"id":47741,"date":"2017-07-19T04:45:16","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T10:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47741"},"modified":"2021-07-06T17:32:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T23:32:28","slug":"thousands-thousands-of-wilsons-phalaropes-over-the-great-salt-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/19\/thousands-thousands-of-wilsons-phalaropes-over-the-great-salt-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands & Thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes over the Great Salt Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThousandsThousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes over the Great Salt Lake – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It may only be one month into summer but for the shorebirds of North America fall migration has already begun. Some shorebirds reach their breeding ground early, breed, nest, rear their young and head to their wintering grounds before songbirds do.<\/p>\n

The Great Salt Lake is in the Great Basin hub of the Pacific flyway<\/span><\/a> and it isn’t unusual to see hundreds of thousands of shorebirds migrating through the area in both spring and fall and those are amazing to see, especially from the causeway to Antelope Island State Park. After several dry years we had a wet spring here with plenty of runoff from the mountains and the level of the lake is higher than it has been for some time and there is water close enough to the shoreline near the causeway to bring great views of the shorebirds fueling up for their long migrations.<\/p>\n

I know how blessed I am to be able to see and photograph the spellbinding spectacle of thousands and thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes lift off and take flight en masse and to see their murmurations over the Great Salt Lake. To watch them in person as the phalaropes fly over the water in undulating waves is indeed incredible to see. At times I have to take my eye away from the viewfinder so I can take the whole view in.<\/p>\n

The phalaropes in my photo above were probably close to a mile away when I photographed them over the calm waters of the lake with the Promontory Mountains in the background. I wish I could have heard their wings but they were too far away.<\/p>\n

It makes me realize just how hard we need to fight to prevent the Great Salt Lake from drying up because the birds need the resources the lake provides for them on their journeys.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Wilson\u2019s Phalarope photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know how blessed I am to be able to see and photograph the spellbinding spectacle of thousands and thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes lift off and take flight en masse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47740,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,26,1140],"tags":[4052,4005,1637,3824,4287,274,2442],"class_list":["post-47741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-wilsons-phalaropes","tag-flight","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-murmuration","tag-phalaropes","tag-phalaropus-tricolor","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-wilsons-phalarope"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/phalarope-murmeration-mia-mcpherson-6419.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cq1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53154,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/19\/incredible-phalarope-migration-happening-now-at-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":47741,"position":0},"title":"Incredible Phalarope Migration Happening Now at the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Red-necked and Wilson's Phalaropes have started their fall migration and one of the places where they gather in large numbers is the Great Salt Lake where they show up in the tens of thousands to feed and rest before continuing their journey.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","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 flock in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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, 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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 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