{"id":57164,"date":"2019-04-09T06:35:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T12:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57164"},"modified":"2025-05-09T14:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T19:44:52","slug":"spring-gathering-of-tree-swallows-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/09\/spring-gathering-of-tree-swallows-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Gathering Of Tree Swallows At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpringSpring Tree Swallows at Bear River MBR – Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided that my Jeep wasn’t quite dirty enough to warrant a good power washing from my last trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> so I headed that way again before dawn yesterday morning to see if I could get her dirtier. The roads certainly weren’t as muddy as they were on my last trip to the refuge but the midges were thicker and I am certain they made enough of a mess that I’ll be washing her soon.<\/p>\n

I had the first section of the auto tour route to myself, no visible traffic ahead of me and nothing behind me so I took my time and listened to the sounds of the marsh while I scanned for birds to photograph. The marsh sounds much more “alive” with bird songs and calls than it did just a mere month ago, spring does that.<\/p>\n

I had missed seeing swallows on the refuge during the winter and now that spring has arrived they are putting on a show after their return to northern Utah. I saw Barn, Bank, Cliff, and Tree Swallows yesterday morning in large numbers flying over the refuge while they snatched midges and other flying insects out of the air.<\/p>\n

Tree Swallows were the most numerous of the swallows I saw and at the far northwest part of the auto tour route I found bunches of them resting in a stand of phragmites so I decided to get out, set up my tripod and photograph them from across the water. They were busy squabbling with each other over what I assume were the best places to perch so the swallows paid little attention to me as I set up my gear.<\/p>\n

Once again I realized that I need to get a external mic for my gear so I can take video along with the sounds I hear because not only were the swallows moving often they called often too. I tried to find a recording of what they sounded like to share but even this recording<\/span><\/a> doesn’t do them justice because I was hearing many more birds. Any suggestions for relatively inexpensive external mics for use with video would be much appreciated.<\/p>\n

I like the interactions of the Tree Swallows in this photo and how I was able to capture several of the swallows flying in and out of the phrags. The swallows look as if they are celebrating their return as joyously as I am.<\/p>\n

It was another relaxing morning at the refuge and I’m so very glad I went.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Tree Swallows were the most numerous of the swallows I saw and at the far northwest part of the auto tour route I found bunches of them resting in a stand of phragmites so I decided to get out, set up my tripod and photograph them from across the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[124,27,1148,2171,26],"tags":[4004,4247,6949,4094,4059,165,7057,9623,4807,3470,4377,1523],"class_list":["post-57164","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-tree-swallows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-flock","tag-gathering","tag-marsh","tag-phragmites","tag-spring","tag-squabbling","tag-stand","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree-swallow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7705.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eS0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/25\/the-return-of-the-tree-swallows\/","url_meta":{"origin":57164,"position":0},"title":"Return of the Tree Swallows","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Not only are Tree Swallows colorful and beautiful they are bug-zapping machines and keep the number of flying insects down.","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":"Stand of Tree Swallows at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-6859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-6859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/bank-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Barn Swallow lifting off, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-adult-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-0067.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-adult-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-0067.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-adult-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-0067.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-adult-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-0067.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-adult-mia-mcpherson-1307.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-adult-mia-mcpherson-1307.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-adult-mia-mcpherson-1307.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-adult-mia-mcpherson-1307.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58774,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/30\/juvenile-cliff-swallows-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":57164,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile Cliff Swallows At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The soft, early morning light was beautiful when I took these juvenile Cliff Swallow images and I am pleased with how the photos came out.","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":"Early morning juvenile Cliff Swallow, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5249.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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