{"id":53026,"date":"2018-07-09T05:43:25","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T11:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=53026"},"modified":"2025-05-18T19:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:34:55","slug":"refreshing-winter-scenery-and-the-tundra-swans-of-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/09\/refreshing-winter-scenery-and-the-tundra-swans-of-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Refreshing Winter Scenery and the Tundra Swans of Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MarchMarch scenery at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge – Nikon D810, f11, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 80mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes when the summer heat gets to me I look back at images I have taken during the winter and quite often I find those images to be taken at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and the birds that I find there. Somehow it refreshes me just seeing snow, ice, the winter landscape of frozen marshes and snow-topped mountains in my photos.<\/p>\n

We didn’t get much snow last winter in the valleys but in March there was some snow on the Promontory Mountains that are west of the refuge, those snow-covered mountains sure are a pretty background for the marsh and birds I see on the auto tour route during the colder months of the year including the thousands (and thousands) of Tundra Swans that overwinter here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

This winter I’d like to be at this same location well before the sun rise so I can photograph the beautiful colors of dawn from this spot.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Tundra Swan in flight over Bear River MBR – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

In February I had a blast photographing the Tundra Swans I found at the refuge, seeing them bathing, resting, feeding, calling, preening, taking off and flying over the refuge is fascinating, fun and because of the cold temps, invigorating.<\/p>\n

We see both adult and immature Tundra Swans at the refuge, early in the season it is easy to tell which ones are immature because of their plumage and the color of their bills but later in the season it can become more challenging to tell them apart. The bill can help, or more precisely the color of the spot on the bill near the eyes, in adults it is bright yellow, the immature birds quite often have a spot that is whitish in color as seen in the photo above.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Tundra Swan running to take off – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even from a distance the yellow spot on the bill of adult Tundra Swan’s can be easy to see. This adult Tundra Swan was running across the shallow water to take off when I photographed it.<\/p>\n

Yes, thinking of the snow scenery at the refuge and looking at images of the birds of winter does feel refreshing to me.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good but could someone please turn down the heat?<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Sometimes when the summer heat gets to me I look back at images I have taken during the winter and quite often I find those images to be taken at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the birds that I find there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,158,26],"tags":[4004,4431,4052,4067,4528,4092,4148,4050,4628,3122,3792,2117,909,2063,373,6632],"class_list":["post-53026","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-tundra-swans","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-cygnus-columbianus","tag-flight","tag-immature","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-refuge","tag-running","tag-snow","tag-swan","tag-swans","tag-take-off","tag-tundra-swan","tag-views","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter","tag-winter-scenery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-0400.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dNg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51386,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/26\/tundra-swans-of-bear-river-mbr-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":0},"title":"Tundra Swans Of Bear River MBR On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing a few flocks of Tundra Swans in flight two days in northern Utah was a reminder that these big, white swans have already begun their migration to their breeding grounds on the tundra of northern Canada and Alaska.","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":"Tundra Swans flying east over the marsh at Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swans-flight-east-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140984,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/01\/tundra-swan-portrait-bear-river-mbr-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":1},"title":"Tundra Swan Portrait – Bear River MBR, Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing a simple Tundra Swan portrait taken almost two years ago on a bright winter day at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tundra Swan portrait, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tundra-swan-portrait-utah-mia-mcpherson-4922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tundra-swan-portrait-utah-mia-mcpherson-4922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tundra-swan-portrait-utah-mia-mcpherson-4922.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tundra-swan-portrait-utah-mia-mcpherson-4922.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":123293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/09\/today-is-utahs-swan-day-for-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":2},"title":"Today Is Utah’s Swan Day For 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is March 9th, and it is Utah's Swan Day 2024! The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour loop is a terrific place to see these lovely white swans.","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 Tundra Swan portrait, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-solitary-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-4967.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-solitary-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-4967.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-solitary-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-4967.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-solitary-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-4967.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118007,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/10\/time-to-see-and-hear-tundra-swans\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":3},"title":"Time To See And Hear Tundra Swans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Now is a great time to see and hear Tundra Swans from the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I saw several large flocks of them yesterday from there.","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":"Autumn flock of Tundra Swans in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/tundra-swan-flock-in-november-mia-mcpherson-7045.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/tundra-swan-flock-in-november-mia-mcpherson-7045.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/tundra-swan-flock-in-november-mia-mcpherson-7045.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/tundra-swan-flock-in-november-mia-mcpherson-7045.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110686,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/03\/big-beautiful-tundra-swans-of-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":4},"title":"Big & Beautiful: Tundra Swans of Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent time with a flock of big, beautiful Tundra Swans at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I loved every moment that I had with the swans.","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":"Seventy-six Tundra Swans and the Promontory Mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tundra-swan-adults-and-immature-76-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0865.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tundra-swan-adults-and-immature-76-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0865.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tundra-swan-adults-and-immature-76-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0865.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tundra-swan-adults-and-immature-76-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0865.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":124934,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/20\/last-day-of-winter-tundra-swans\/","url_meta":{"origin":53026,"position":5},"title":"Last Day Of Winter Tundra Swans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on the last day of winter, I decided to take a video of some of the Tundra Swans I found on the auto tour loop.","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":"Tundra Swan on the last day of winter, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-0892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-0892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-0892.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-0892.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\/53026","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=53026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}