{"id":5146,"date":"2012-06-07T04:29:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T10:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5146"},"modified":"2025-09-28T05:19:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T10:19:17","slug":"birds-of-bear-river-mbr-american-white-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/07\/birds-of-bear-river-mbr-american-white-pelicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds of Bear River MBR – American White Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw plenty of American White Pelicans earlier this week while spending two mornings at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/a><\/span> (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

\"NonbreedingAmerican White Pelican flying over Bear River MBR<\/span><\/p>\n

The pelicans have already gone into\u00a0summer plumage, they have shed the caruncles seen on their bills during breeding season and now instead of a pure white head they are showing a bit of darkness there.<\/p>\n

\"BearBear River MBR American White Pelican<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw the American White Pelicans group feeding in the ponds and drainage canals on the refuge and flying in squadrons in the air. A couple of times the birds were flying in a line\u00a0and they appeared to be following each others movements, it reminded me of the “Crack the Whip, a childhood game I used to play while skating.<\/p>\n

\"NonbreedingNonbreeding plumage American White Pelican in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an excellent location for finding and photographing\u00a0American White Pelicans who have wing spans of over nine feet. I photographed these in between taking images of Western and Clark’s Grebes, more to come on the grebes soon!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an excellent location for finding and photographing American White Pelicans who have wing spans of over nine feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158171,"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":[3,124,27,1148,26],"tags":[4004,3966,4007,4215,4052,8983,4122,4094,4154,4,706,4018,165,4095,4741],"class_list":["post-5146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-pelicans","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-white-pelican","tag-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","tag-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-flight","tag-fly-by","tag-flying","tag-marsh","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-sky","tag-spring","tag-wetlands","tag-white-pelicans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-6197.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1l0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":117537,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/27\/fall-american-white-pelican-images-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":0},"title":"Fall American White Pelican Images At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On this fall morning, I'm sharing three American White Pelican images from Bear River MBR taken earlier this week and a bonus flock photo from last year.","rel":"","context":"In "American White Pelicans"","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican in the fall, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"June 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite things is to see is squadrons of American White Pelicans wheeling in the sky high overhead circling until they are out of sight.","rel":"","context":"In "American White Pelicans"","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican flight over Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-7149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-7149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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