{"id":51437,"date":"2018-03-28T06:44:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T12:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51437"},"modified":"2023-09-19T16:10:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T22:10:52","slug":"nest-building-marsh-wren-plus-a-surprise-ferruginous-hawk-and-foy-swainsons-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/28\/nest-building-marsh-wren-plus-a-surprise-ferruginous-hawk-and-foy-swainsons-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Nest Building Marsh Wren Plus A Surprise Ferruginous Hawk And FOY Swainson’s Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mostly today’s post is about a nest building Marsh Wren but I’m including an unexpected hawk I also found on my way out to the auto tour loop.<\/p>\n

\"FerruginousFerruginous Hawk in early morning light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday found me heading to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> before the sun had come up, the radar showed very few clouds and I was itching to see what migrants might be found at the refuge.<\/p>\n

Before even getting to the auto tour route I spotted a bird to the west that I thought might be a Short-eared Owl when I first saw it from a long distance because I’d expect to see one there and I could see the chest of the bird was light colored. Instead it was an unexpected Ferruginous Hawk, unexpected because I’ve never found a Ferruginous Hawk out there on the flats on the way to the auto tour route. I had a great time photographing this bird until another vehicle went by and the hawk took flight.<\/p>\n

On the north side of the auto tour route I saw my first of the season Yellow-headed Blackbirds, on the west side my first of season Clark’s and Western Grebes and there were loads of both the blackbirds and the grebes. I saw that some of the Tundra Swans are still hanging around.<\/p>\n

\"SaucySaucy little Marsh Wren – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I spent an hour and 23 minutes photographing a very industrious and extremely vocal Marsh Wren building a nest and singing his little heart out while he was doing it. I say he<\/em> because only the males sing on territory and build the nest. About the only time the wren was quiet was when he was deep in the vegetation looking for nesting material or when he was placing nesting materials on the nest itself.<\/p>\n

\"MarshMarsh Wren with nesting material – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It seemed like the Marsh Wren preferred using wet nesting materials, I did not see him fly in with dry vegetation even one time. The wren usually flew straight to the nest with the nesting material but a few times he perched out in the open before heading to the clump of cattails the nest was in. I’m happy I was able to photograph him with nesting materials in his beak.<\/p>\n

\"MarshMarsh Wren lifting off from a cattail – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to photograph the wren in flight with the nesting material and I did take a few images that showed him flying with it but these little birds fly extremely fast and some of those photos were much, much softer than I’d like and some were an absolute blurry mess.<\/p>\n

\"MarshMarsh Wren singing on his territory – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In between gathering nesting materials and weaving the nest the Marsh Wren would sing, most of the time a clear view of the wren was obstructed by vegetation but a few times he did perch out in the open. I love hearing these birds, especially during the breeding season.<\/p>\n

\"MarshMarsh Wren singing near its nest – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I also saw the wren gathering cattail fluff to line the nest with while I photographed him. Male Marsh Wrens build several nests, and while one may be used the others are dummy nests and I don’t know if I was seeing him building a dummy nest or not. They use a lot of energy building the nests in spring.<\/p>\n

I had a great time observing and photographing this Marsh Wren yesterday.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of Year Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

And… ta daaa, I also spotted my first of year (FOY) Swainson’s Hawk not far from the refuge visitor center. I did not expect to see a Swainson’s Hawk at all yesterday because I had checked eBird and the closest Swainson’s that have been reported this month are down near Las Vegas so I was very surprised to see this hawk. I should say though that when I tried to report this sighting on eBird it showed up as rare for this time of the year and even after reporting it yesterday afternoon the eBird reviewer for this area hasn’t approved or opened this sighting up for all to view. The reviewer might not have had time to do that yet, they are volunteers that are as busy as the rest of us are.<\/p>\n

It was a wonderful morning spotting both the Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, seeing quite a few other first of season birds and spending time photographing the Marsh Wren while he was busy constructing his nest. What a great day.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a wonderful morning spotting both the Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, seeing quite a few other first of season birds and spending time photographing the Marsh Wren while he was busy constructing his nest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95469,"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":[124,27,1148,1069,538,206,26],"tags":[2663,4268,4200,777,2092,6242,788,4033,4169,2386,2118,4182,4104,153,4179,4034,5802,3822],"class_list":["post-51437","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-ferruginous-hawks","category-marsh-wrens","category-swainson-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-regalis","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-cistothorus-palustris","tag-ferruginous-hawk","tag-first-of-season","tag-first-of-year","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-marsh-wren","tag-nesting-material","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-singing-2","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-wren","tag-wrens"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9419.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dnD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49324,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/07\/feathered-tarsi-ferruginous-rough-legged-hawks-have-feathered-legs\/","url_meta":{"origin":51437,"position":0},"title":"Feathered Tarsi – Ferruginous & Rough-legged Hawks Have Feathered Legs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"North America has two hawk (buteos) species that have feathered tarsi, or legs, those two species are Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks.","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":"Ferruginous Hawk showing its feathered legs (tarsi), West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7443,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/06\/some-of-the-birds-i-love-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":51437,"position":1},"title":"Some of the Birds I Love at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite locations to photograph birds in northern Utah is Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I've selected some of the birds there that delight and entertain me while I observe and photograph them.","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Eastern Kingbird on a barbed wire fence, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5986.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\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62215,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/26\/ferruginous-hawks-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":51437,"position":3},"title":"Ferruginous Hawks in Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Knowing what kind of habitat Ferruginous Hawks prefer during all four seasons here in northern Utah can increase the chances of finding them year round.","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":"Dark morph Ferruginous Hawk surveying its habitat, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108965,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/23\/immature-ferruginous-hawk-in-december\/","url_meta":{"origin":51437,"position":5},"title":"Immature Ferruginous Hawk In December","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was overjoyed to see an immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk in my viewfinder four years ago in December while I was out in Utah's West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Light morph Ferruginous Hawk with its eyes on the clouds, West Desert, Tooele County, 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