{"id":71108,"date":"2020-06-24T05:25:34","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T11:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=71108"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:53:10","slug":"eastern-kingbird-perched-on-pickleweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/24\/eastern-kingbird-perched-on-pickleweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Kingbird Perched On Pickleweed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Eastern Kingbird perched on a pickleweed \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a wonderful morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> yesterday. Because of the Coronavirus and earlier restrictions associated with it yesterday was the first time I’d been to the refuge since mid-April and it was great to be back.<\/p>\n

Before I even got to the auto tour route I found two adult Short-eared Owls and then I was able to spot two of their fledglings nearly hidden in the grasses and blooming wildflowers. I saw one Western Grebe on their nest which had one egg but was saddened to see that grebe numbers are way down at the refuge compared to several years ago.<\/p>\n

I didn’t find a single Pied-billed Grebe yesterday and I used to see them on virtually every trip to the refuge during the spring, summer and fall.\u00a0 Water is critical for grebes to nest and after at least three years of staff caused, low water levels next to the auto tour route many of the grebes may have nested elsewhere. Again.<\/p>\n

Later in the morning I spotted a Long-billed Curlew family and took so many photos that I haven’t had time to go through them all but I found it interesting that all of the 5 to 6 curlew chicks appeared to be of different ages which I determined by their size and plumage and that there was only one adult male Long-billed Curlew with the chicks.<\/p>\n

Note: Female Long-billed Curlews leave the males to rear their young and later in the morning I saw about 12 to 15 females foraging together in a grassy field.<\/p>\n

One of the birds I was excited to see and photograph yesterday morning was an adult Eastern Kingbird perched on a pickleweed next to the road.<\/p>\n

Since I have been spending a lot of time in the mountains the last three summers I haven’t photographed many Eastern Kingbirds and I’ve missed them. After watching and photographing this adult I believe I discovered where it is nesting. I hope to go back soon to see if there will be young Eastern Kingbirds in that area. This was one of two Eastern Kingbirds I found yesterday morning and I decided to share it because I really like the setting.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

One of the birds I was excited to see and photograph yesterday morning was an adult Eastern Kingbird perched on a pickleweed next to the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148987,"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":[124,27,1148,1519,26],"tags":[4004,1521,3808,4884,10110,3791,3772,4104,1032,11852,10111,2315,1635,298],"class_list":["post-71108","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-eastern-kingbirds","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-eastern-kingbird","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-iodinebush","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-perched","tag-pickleweed","tag-ranchlands","tag-salicornia","tag-summer-3","tag-tyrannus-tyrannus","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-iodinebush-mia-mcpherson-5448.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-iuU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5209,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/21\/perched-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":71108,"position":0},"title":"Perched Eastern Kingbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I always look forward to seeing and photographing Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) during the warmer months of the year. I was fortunate to see a few yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.","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":"Eastern Kingbird perched on an old fence post, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106116,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/12\/young-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":71108,"position":1},"title":"Young Eastern Kingbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was driving around the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last month, I had a nice opportunity to photograph a young Eastern Kingbird.","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 Eastern Kingbird close up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/eastern-kingbird-immature-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4036.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/eastern-kingbird-immature-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4036.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/eastern-kingbird-immature-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4036.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/eastern-kingbird-immature-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4036.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/23\/spring-eastern-kingbird-photos-from-tishomingo-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":71108,"position":2},"title":"Spring Eastern Kingbird Photos From Tishomingo NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Since my arrival in Oklahoma, I've had fun taking Eastern Kingbird photos at the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge. I've seen dozens of these kingbirds there.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Kingbird perched in a mulberry, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/eastern-kingbird-tishomingo-nwr-mia-mcpherson-0547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/eastern-kingbird-tishomingo-nwr-mia-mcpherson-0547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/eastern-kingbird-tishomingo-nwr-mia-mcpherson-0547.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\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21167,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/03\/eastern-kingbird-on-the-road-to-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":71108,"position":4},"title":"Eastern Kingbird On The Road To Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I only have time for a quick post this morning and decided to post one of the migrant kingbirds I look forward to seeing every year, an Eastern Kingbird.","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":"Eastern Kingbird on the road to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":147589,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/29\/eastern-kingbird-at-lower-scarborough-slough\/","url_meta":{"origin":71108,"position":5},"title":"Eastern Kingbird At Lower Scarborough Slough","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma in May, I photographed this handsome Eastern Kingbird at Lower Scarborough Slough.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Eastern Kingbird at Lower Scarborough Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, 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