{"id":60050,"date":"2019-09-07T04:51:10","date_gmt":"2019-09-07T10:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=60050"},"modified":"2025-05-09T14:46:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T19:46:54","slug":"swallow-quartet-bank-barn-cliff-and-tree-swallows-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/07\/swallow-quartet-bank-barn-cliff-and-tree-swallows-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Swallow Quartet – Bank, Barn, Cliff And Tree Swallows At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Immature<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Immature<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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\"Immature<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Adult<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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The swallows in northern Utah have begun to gather in large numbers and at this time of the year that usually indicates that they are getting ready for fall migration. Earlier this week while out on the marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> I saw and heard thousands of swallows on the wing and perched on the rushes and phrags and even though that was a joy I also felt a tinge of sadness because I know that before long they will be gone for the winter and I’ll miss seeing them zooming through the skies in pursuit of food.<\/p>\n

Please click on the first image to begin a slide show which you can view automatically or you can use your mouse to scroll through the photos.<\/p>\n

I was glad to be able to photograph Bank, Barn, Cliff, and Tree Swallows perched on top of a stand of phragmites near the auto tour route on the refuge in early morning light. The Bank, Cliff and Tree Swallows in the photos above hatched this year so these immature swallows will be making their first long journeys soon.<\/p>\n

The young Bank Swallow was chased off of where it was perched on the phrags by the adult Barn Swallow and I liked that my images of these two swallow species show the same perch. That doesn’t happen very often to me.<\/p>\n

From all appearances it looks like these four swallow species had a successful breeding season this year. I wish them luck on their long, perilous journeys and I am already looking forward to when they return in the spring.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view my swallow photo galleries.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was glad to be able to photograph Bank, Barn, Cliff and Tree Swallows perched on top of a stand of phragmites near the auto tour route on the refuge in early morning light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139671,"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":[5983,2108,124,27,1148,489,2171,26],"tags":[4004,5985,2111,2420,6692,4545,4067,6636,4944,610,530,4099,641,5984,7657,4807,3470,4377,1523,4193],"class_list":["post-60050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bank-swallows","category-barn-swallows","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-cliff-swallows","category-tree-swallows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bank-swallow","tag-barn-swallow","tag-cliff-swallow","tag-early-morning-light","tag-hirundo-rustica","tag-immature","tag-journeys","tag-lifting-off","tag-marshes","tag-migration","tag-morning-light","tag-petrochelidon-pyrrhonota","tag-riparia-riparia","tag-soft","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree-swallow","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-adult-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-0067.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fCy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100381,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/05\/swallow-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":60050,"position":0},"title":"Swallow 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McPherson","date":"February 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has five species of swallows, they are Tree, Northern Rough-winged, Violet-green, Cliff and Barn Swallows.","rel":"","context":"In "Barn Swallows"","block_context":{"text":"Barn Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/barn-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Barn Swallow at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-perched-mia-mcpherson-1401.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-perched-mia-mcpherson-1401.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-perched-mia-mcpherson-1401.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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2017","format":false,"excerpt":"While I looked around four days ago I saw this Bank Swallow resting on a fence that hangs over the Red Rock River and could not resist photographing it with the blue water below and behind it.","rel":"","context":"In "Bank Swallows"","block_context":{"text":"Bank Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/bank-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched Bank Swallow, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bank-swallow-montana-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bank-swallow-montana-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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