{"id":6906,"date":"2012-12-26T06:29:04","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T13:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6906"},"modified":"2026-04-04T06:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:15:08","slug":"bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-christmas-day-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/26\/bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-christmas-day-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge – Christmas Day 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BearNorth section of the auto tour route – Bear River MBR Christmas Day 2012 – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1500, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18 mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Christmas Day of 2012 turned out to be as beautiful as I hoped at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> because of bright skies, snow on the ground, birds and the expansive views. The Promontory Mountains to the west were gorgeous covered in a blanket of fresh snow.<\/p>\n

Bear River had some open water but there was also ice along the shore and some of the smaller ponds were frozen over. The lowest temp I saw was 6 degrees\u00a0Fahrenheit but it didn’t feel that cold because of the warmth of the sun.<\/p>\n

\"BaldBald Eagle Landing on the Bear River – Nikon D300, f5.6, 1\/3200, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Just before the maintenance buildings at the start of the auto tour route I spotted\u00a0this Bald Eagle standing on the frozen surface of the Bear River, it looked\u00a0beautiful in the soft morning light.<\/p>\n

The eagle was looking at the ice covering the river when it lifted off and flew a few feet towards something that\u00a0I couldn’t see.<\/p>\n

This photo was taken as the eagle started to land on the ice once again. Two American White Pelicans lifted off from the river right after the bridge by the maintenance building, they have hung around rather late in the season. Maybe they just didn’t want to be called “snow birds” by the people down south. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Before seeing the Bald Eagle I spotted a Barn Owl flying but the owl would not let me get close enough for images.<\/p>\n

During the morning at Bear River MBR and north in the Golden Spike Area I saw Bald and Golden Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, a Prairie Falcon and quite a few American Kestrels.<\/p>\n

In addition I spotted two Short-eared Owls flying over a marshy area. Most of these great raptors were just too far away for photos.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas Marshes and the distant Promontory Mountains – Christmas Day at Bear River MBR 2012 – Nikon D200, handheld, f14, 1\/640, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 75mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The air was crisp, and the only sounds I could hear when the vehicle wasn’t moving were the sounds of nature. Rustling phragmites and cattails, small birds flitting around and some times further away, the cries of gulls. It was peaceful, relaxing and invigorating all at the same time.<\/p>\n

What a wonderful Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

\"HatchHatch year Great Blue Heron on Christmas Day – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the north section of the very muddy auto route I saw a scattering of around 100 Great Blue Herons, I have never seen so many in an area that size at the refuge.<\/p>\n

It was pretty amazing to see.<\/p>\n

Right after heading south I spotted this immature Great Blue Heron standing in a section of open water surrounded by ice, it wasn’t long before the bird flew onto a pile of snow topped vegetation which is where it was when I captured this image.<\/p>\n

You might wonder how I know that this is a\u00a0young bird, the crown is dark and there isn’t any white on top of the head or behind the eye as would be seen on an adult.<\/p>\n

The rusty colored shoulder patches that adults have aren’t evident and the mottled stripes on the chest of this bird wouldn’t\u00a0be seen on an adult.<\/p>\n

\"ChristmasChristmas Day at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge looking towards Promontory Point – Nikon D200, handheld, f14, 1\/320, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 22mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After leaving the auto tour route was I finally saw another car parked on the shoulder of the hard-topped road and that is where I spotted the first Short-eared owl flying over the marshy area.<\/p>\n

The driver of the car was out taking photographs so I zoomed in a distance behind him to see if the owl would fly in close. The young man came up and introduced himself after a bit.<\/p>\n

David is from Washington State and it was his first visit to Bear River MBR so I told him what I had seen on the auto tour route and I hope he saw some of the birds I mentioned. It was very nice to have met him.<\/p>\n

Bear River MBR and the Golden Spike area are always wonderful but yesterday both seemed even more fantastic.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of\u00a0 my photos of birds, animals, insects, plants, and scenery at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Day of 2012 turned out to be as beautiful as I hoped at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge because of bright skies, snow on the ground, birds and the expansive views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,124,27,1148,166,26],"tags":[4117,846,3903,3133,4052,3987,4152,627,626,4064,191,4094,610,4035,4528,1942,5558,4050,1601,373],"class_list":["post-6906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bald-eagle","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-bald-eagle","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-flight","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-ice","tag-landscapes","tag-marsh","tag-marshes","tag-nature-photography","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-promontory-point-2","tag-river","tag-snow","tag-utah-scenery","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4958.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1No","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100674,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/14\/young-great-blue-heron-in-front-of-the-promontory-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":6906,"position":0},"title":"Young Great Blue Heron In Front Of The Promontory Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked this image of an immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of the snow covered Promontory Mountains even though the heron is small in the frame.","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":"Immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of snow covered mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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year ago I had this adult Black-crowned Night Heron in my viewfinder as it flew in front of the Promontory Mountains at Bear River MBR.","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":"Black-crowned Night Heron flying in front of the Promontory Mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I was on my way to the auto tour loop at the refuge when I spotted this heron.","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":"Great Blue Heron falling through ice on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48420,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/11\/wading-birds-at-bear-river-mbr-yesterday\/","url_meta":{"origin":6906,"position":4},"title":"Wading Birds At Bear River MBR Yesterday","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110788,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/06\/great-blue-heron-solitude-on-the-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":6906,"position":5},"title":"Great Blue Heron: Solitude On The Ice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last journey up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I stopped to take photos of a majestic Great Blue Heron enjoying some solitude on the ice.","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":"Great Blue Heron on the edge of ice, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-adult-phrags-edge-mia-mcpherson-5318.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-adult-phrags-edge-mia-mcpherson-5318.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-adult-phrags-edge-mia-mcpherson-5318.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-adult-phrags-edge-mia-mcpherson-5318.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\/6906","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=6906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}