{"id":57601,"date":"2019-05-04T06:20:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57601"},"modified":"2025-03-29T11:30:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T16:30:02","slug":"cliff-swallow-surfing-a-phragmites-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/04\/cliff-swallow-surfing-a-phragmites-wave\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Swallow Surfing A Phragmites “Wave”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Cliff Swallow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I was going to do a long post about Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> this morning and I had selected and opened 7 images in Photoshop that I wanted to process for the post but Photoshop crashed as I began to edit the first image.<\/p>\n

The thing is,I didn’t have time to go back, locate the files, open all the images again, process them, tag, title, and upload them so I decided to share just one photo instead.<\/p>\n

When I opened this adult Cliff Swallow image on my computer at home the first thought I had was that it looked like the Cliff Swallow was surfing on a phragmites “wave”.<\/p>\n

Then I thought about surfing and hangin’ ten which is when a surfer curls all<\/em> ten toes over the front of a surf board while surfing but this is a perching bird that doesn’t have ten toes… so then I had to wonder is the Cliff Swallow hangin’ six or eight on the phragmites “wave”?<\/p>\n

Cliff Swallows have three forward pointing toes and one backward pointing toe per foot and only the 6 forward pointing toes are curled over the front of the phragmites wave… so I would have to say Hangin’ Six.<\/p>\n

I had to laugh at the path my brain took when I viewed this Cliff Swallow photo. And by the way the Cliff Swallow was actually preening in a light breeze and it was trying to regain its balance on the phragmites after giving its feathers a good shake.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I opened this adult Cliff Swallow image on my computer at home the first thought I had was that it looked like the Cliff Swallow was surfing on a phragmites “wave”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142256,"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":[124,27,1148,489,26],"tags":[4004,7104,2420,4094,641,4059,4019,4807,3470,4095],"class_list":["post-57601","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-cliff-swallows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breezy","tag-cliff-swallow","tag-marsh","tag-petrochelidon-pyrrhonota","tag-phragmites","tag-preening-2","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cliff-swallow-surfing-phrags-mia-mcpherson-8395.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eZ3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37463,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/26\/cliff-swallow-nesting-season-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":57601,"position":0},"title":"Cliff Swallow Nesting Season at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"More of the swallows will migrate to the refuge very soon and the Cliff Swallow nesting season will start.","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":"Bear River Cliff Swallow perched on phragmites, 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-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":57601,"position":1},"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 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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 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23463,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/12\/preening-cliff-swallow-and-a-short-video-of-the-flock\/","url_meta":{"origin":57601,"position":3},"title":"Preening Cliff Swallow And A Short Video Of The Flock","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cliff Swallows at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge are busy catching bugs and building nests but they do take time out to preen and fluff like this one did yesterday.","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":"Preening Cliff Swallow at 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-adult-mia-mcpherson-1426.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-1426.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-1426.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-1426.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84465,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/14\/spring-cliff-swallow-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":57601,"position":4},"title":"Spring Cliff Swallow Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I was able to focus on a nearby adult Cliff Swallow as it warmed up on the dirt auto tour loop road and take a nice series of images of it in the soft light.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird 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