{"id":57435,"date":"2019-04-25T05:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T11:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57435"},"modified":"2025-09-13T07:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:30:32","slug":"photographing-hen-and-drake-cinnamon-teals-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/25\/photographing-hen-and-drake-cinnamon-teals-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Hen And Drake Cinnamon Teals At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-155665 size-full\" title=\"Drake Cinnamon Teal next to the auto tour route at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360.jpg\" alt=\"Drake Cinnamon Teal next to the auto tour route at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-drake-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3360.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Drake Cinnamon Teal next to the auto tour route at Bear River MBR &#8211; Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with w.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I mentioned yesterday that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/24\/two-merlins-were-my-best-finds-of-the-day-at-bear-river-mbr\/\">my Merlin sightings<\/a><\/span> were my best finds of my recent trip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and they were because it was unusual to find two in one day but I also had opportunities to photograph other birds while I was there.<\/p>\n<p>Among the birds I photographed at the refuge were hen and drake Cinnamon Teals. Normally I find them to be very skittish but spring hormones must be doing something because the teals were far more approachable than normal.<\/p>\n<p>On the north side of the auto tour route I was able to take frame filling images of a drake Cinnamon Teal as he stuck close to a hen and the gravelly shoulder of the auto tour route. Not the prettiest of settings but he was so close and cooperative that I couldn&#8217;t resist taking his photo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-155668 size-full\" title=\"Hen Cinnamon Teal in lush spring growth, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg\" alt=\"Hen Cinnamon Teal in lush spring growth, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Hen Cinnamon Teal in lush spring growth &#8211; Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with w.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Later in the morning and on the other side of the auto tour route I was able to take images of a hen Cinnamon Teal surrounded by lush, green spring growth while her mate kept an eye on her from a distance. I thought she looked very regal in the vibrant green setting.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t have many opportunities with Cinnamon Teals at such close ranges so I jumped at the chance to photograph both the hen and the drake.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/cinnamon-teal-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Cinnamon Teal photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Later in the morning and on the other side of the auto tour route I was able to take images of a hen Cinnamon Teal surrounded by lush, green spring growth while her mate kept an eye on her from a distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155668,"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":[124,27,1148,961,26],"tags":[4004,2439,4717,4483,1129,126,4070,5742,3790,4359,4062,8301,8300,972,165,7094,4920,2063],"class_list":["post-57435","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-cinnamon-teals","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-cinnamon-teal","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-female","tag-green","tag-growth","tag-hen","tag-male","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-spatula-cyanoptera","tag-spring","tag-teal","tag-teals","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cinnamon-teal-female-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eWn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86717,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/03\/drake-cinnamon-teal-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":0},"title":"Drake Cinnamon Teal In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On the same morning that I photographed the drake Northern Shoveler flying by at the refuge I also photographed a drake Cinnamon Teal in flight.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Drake Cinnamon Teal in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-teal-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-1957.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-teal-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-1957.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-teal-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-1957.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-teal-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-1957.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101436,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/07\/cinnamon-teal-hen-lift-off-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":1},"title":"Cinnamon Teal Hen Lift Off Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I felt delighted to be able to take a series of this Cinnamon Teal hen lifting off from the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Cinnamon Teal hen lifting off from water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cinnamon-teal-hen-lift-off-series-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cinnamon-teal-hen-lift-off-series-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cinnamon-teal-hen-lift-off-series-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cinnamon-teal-hen-lift-off-series-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/18\/drake-green-winged-teal-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":2},"title":"Drake Green-winged Teal At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to take close up photos of a drake Green-winged Teal paddling away from me at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Drake Green-winged Teal paddling by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86332,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/29\/drake-northern-shoveler-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":3},"title":"Drake Northern Shoveler In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn't easy to photograph some birds on the wing so I was thrilled yesterday to photograph a drake Northern Shoveler in flight.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Drake Northern Shoveler in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":526,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/25\/cinnamon-x-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-duck\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":4},"title":"Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal Hybrid Duck","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It wasn't until I pulled the image up on my monitor that I saw that this duck was a hybrid, which turned out to be Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal hybrid.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal Hybrid Duck, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57959,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/19\/some-of-the-birds-seen-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge-during-the-month-of-may\/","url_meta":{"origin":57435,"position":5},"title":"Some Of The Birds Seen At Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge During The Month of May","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"May is a time of renewal at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and as the marsh begins to green up the migrant birds return and along with the year round residents their songs and calls can be heard over the wetlands.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Avocets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Displaying male Yellow-headed Blackbird in morning light, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-adult-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8186.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-adult-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8186.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-adult-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8186.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-adult-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8186.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\/57435","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=57435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}