{"id":51811,"date":"2018-04-24T05:26:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T11:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51811"},"modified":"2025-03-29T04:58:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T09:58:47","slug":"white-faced-ibis-birds-of-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/24\/white-faced-ibis-birds-of-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"White-faced Ibis – Birds Of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

White-faced Ibis are abundant at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> during their breeding season and they can be easily seen from the 12 mile, self-guided auto tour route feeding in the water impoundments or flying in loose flocks overhead.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult White-faced Ibis preening its belly – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

White-faced Ibis are long-legged, wading birds with long decurved bills and red eyes and we are fortunate to have the world’s largest breeding colony of them right here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

During their breeding season their plumage seems to glow with shades of pinks, greens, purples, blues and bronze with a metallic sheen in the right lighting conditions. I had those lighting conditions two days ago at the refuge.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the south end of the auto tour route there were several small flocks of White-faced Ibis foraging in what shallow water they could find. The water in that particular area has been drawn down again like it was last spring for maintenance, maintenance of what I am not quite sure.<\/p>\n

\"White-facedWhite-faced Ibis with its wings up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

White-faced Ibis eat insects, crustaceans, frogs, snails, small fish, leeches, spiders and aquatic insect and their larvae that they find in the marshes at refuge.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne really white faced White-faced Ibis – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I think this White-faced Ibis has the whitest face I have ever seen on this species. It was unusual and stood out from the rest of the foraging ibis to my eyes, it never came as close as the rest of the flock did but I wish it had.<\/p>\n

\"White-facedWhite-faced Ibis with very muddy feet – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had to chuckle when I saw this photo at home on my monitor because of the coating of mud this White-faced Ibis had on its feet. I think there is more mud there than feet.<\/p>\n

I look forward to seeing more White-faced Ibis at the refuge throughout their time here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

White-faced Ibis are abundant at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge during their breeding season and they can be easily seen from the 12 mile, self-guided auto tour route feeding in the water impoundments or flying in loose flocks overhead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142196,"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":[124,27,1148,26,1372],"tags":[4004,4053,4136,3721,5148,4094,5374,1373,4019,165,313,4095,4340,5498],"class_list":["post-51811","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-utah","category-white-faced-ibises","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-foraging","tag-ibis","tag-ibises","tag-marsh","tag-muddy-feet","tag-plegadis-chihi1","tag-preening-2","tag-spring","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands","tag-white-faced-ibis","tag-wings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dtF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47871,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/02\/white-faced-ibis-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":51811,"position":0},"title":"White-faced Ibis at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was calling me yesterday morning and I answered that call and photographed several White-faced Ibis from the auto tour route.","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":"White-faced Ibis wing lift, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/white-faced-ibis-stretching-mia-mcpherson-0657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/white-faced-ibis-stretching-mia-mcpherson-0657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-wet-head-mia-mcpherson-0703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-wet-head-mia-mcpherson-0703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-wet-head-mia-mcpherson-0703.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-wet-head-mia-mcpherson-0703.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":67408,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/27\/adult-white-faced-ibis-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":51811,"position":3},"title":"Adult White-faced Ibis In Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When White-faced Ibis are in breeding plumage it is easy to see how they got their common name, in nonbreeding plumage, not so much.","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":"Perched adult White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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It isn't unusual at all for this ibis species to overwinter at the 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":"Winter White-faced Ibis 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\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/23\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge-white-faced-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":51811,"position":5},"title":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge White-faced Ibis","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For weeks I have been seeing White-faced Ibis fly overs and yesterday I had my first opportunity to photograph them for the year 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":"Box Elder County White-faced Ibis at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-2468.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}