{"id":58795,"date":"2019-06-24T04:59:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T10:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=58795"},"modified":"2025-05-24T16:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T21:16:52","slug":"killdeer-nesting-in-last-years-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/24\/killdeer-nesting-in-last-years-ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Killdeer Nesting In Last Year’s Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KilldeerKilldeer nesting in a burned area – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to take unique photos of my subjects whenever I can so when presented with the opportunity to photograph this Killdeer nesting in the ashes of last year’s controlled fires at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> I jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n

Last year’s fires were set to help control invasive phragmites, also known as Common Reed, which thrives in the wetlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

Phragmites can overrun native species, crowd them out and change the habitat in ways that are not beneficial for native wildlife.<\/p>\n

The refuge staff uses several strategies to mitigate phragmites including burning the stands of the invasive plants to the ground.<\/p>\n

Last year the fires burned lots of phrags and some of the native plants too. The vegetation is regenerating on the marsh this season but there are still areas where the burns are visible.<\/p>\n

Due to the the small diameter of the burned stubs of vegetation in this image I believe this area had been covered in rushes not phragmites when it was burned last year.<\/p>\n

More information on phragmites can be found here<\/span><\/a> on the Wild About Utah website.<\/p>\n

Both the female and male Killdeer incubate so there is no way for me to tell what the gender of this Killdeer is but it stayed on the scrape while I photographed it and didn’t move. The bird was backlit but there were clouds in front of the sun so the exposure didn’t turn out bad at all.<\/p>\n

I hope when the chicks hatch that they do well.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Both the female and male Killdeer incubate so there is no way for me to tell what the gender of this Killdeer is but it stayed on the scrape while I photographed it and didn’t move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146867,"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":[124,27,1148,267,26],"tags":[4004,7384,2485,4990,4144,270,4094,7385,4075,3976,4059,5841,275,1438,274,4095],"class_list":["post-58795","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-killdeer","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ashes","tag-back-lit","tag-burn-area","tag-charadrius-vociferus","tag-killdeer","tag-marsh","tag-mitigation","tag-nest","tag-nesting","tag-phragmites","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-scrape","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-last-years-ashes-mia-mcpherson-5431.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fij","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101068,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/27\/killdeer-in-spring-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":58795,"position":0},"title":"Killdeer In Spring At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Bear River MBR two days ago I stopped and took a long series of photos of three Killdeer near the entrance to the auto 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":"Preening adult Killdeer, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":117589,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/29\/fall-killdeer-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":58795,"position":1},"title":"Fall Killdeer at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Since moving to Utah, I have seen and photographed Killdeer in every month of the year. It was no surprise that I found several at Bear River MBR last Monday.","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":"Killdeer walking in shallow water 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\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-mia-mcpherson-2203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-mia-mcpherson-2203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-mia-mcpherson-2203.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-mia-mcpherson-2203.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105042,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/16\/young-killdeer-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":58795,"position":3},"title":"Young Killdeer At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge where the second bird that I photographed was a young Killdeer in the early light of dawn.","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":"Young Killdeer just after dawn, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/killdeer-young-refuge-mia-mcpherson-3508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/killdeer-young-refuge-mia-mcpherson-3508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/killdeer-young-refuge-mia-mcpherson-3508.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The first bird I photographed yesterday morning at Bear River MBR was this Killdeer in soft morning light. Truthfully, I am glad my first bird was a Killdeer.","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":"Killdeer in soft 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\/killdeer-adult-early-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-early-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-early-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0647.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-early-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0647.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\/58795","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=58795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}