{"id":72851,"date":"2020-08-19T05:42:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T11:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=72851"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:46:05","slug":"immature-eastern-kingbirds-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/19\/immature-eastern-kingbirds-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Eastern Kingbirds At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungYoung Eastern Kingbird hawking insects from a barbed wire fence \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This has not been a typical year for me, or for anyone else, and because of that I have spent less time at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> which is one of my favorite places in northern Utah to look for birds. The last time I was at the refuge was the 23rd of June. June is a busy month for birds at the refuge, August is a bit slower and definitely hotter, at least it is this year.<\/p>\n

In June I discovered where a Eastern Kingbird might have been nesting<\/span><\/a> next to the road to the auto tour route at the refuge and yesterday I may have seen the young from that nest hunting insects on their own. The two immature Eastern Kingbirds kept me busy yesterday morning for about 2 minutes. During that time I took 190 images.<\/p>\n

Because I’ve spent most of my time up in the mountains to escape the heat the last three years I haven’t had as many opportunities with Eastern Kingbirds as I would like. The two minutes I had with these young kingbirds yesterday helped make up for that. I would have been happy with just the photo above.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Eastern Kingbird lifting off \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The immature Eastern Kingbirds were busy looking for prey and that meant I was able to photograph them lifting off from the barbed wire fence on a few of their foraging attempts.<\/p>\n

I have to say, I really love the pose I caught this young Eastern Kingbird in.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Eastern Kingbird and wild sunflowers \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was also delighted when the kingbirds landed on a fence near some Common Sunflowers because the flowers added a nice pop of yellow and green to the images I took.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Eastern Kingbird looking over its shoulder \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And the immature Eastern Kingbirds also gave me several different poses as they perched on the fence and looked around for prey.<\/p>\n

By the way, the visible fleshy gapes of both of the Eastern Kingbirds I photographed yesterday was the only feature I needed to see to determine that they were young birds and not adults.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Eastern Kingbird in flight \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I only had two minutes with these immature Eastern Kingbirds and I felt I had to make every second I had with them in my viewfinder count. I succeeded.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I only had two minutes with these immature Eastern Kingbirds and I felt I had to make every second I had with them in my viewfinder count. I succeeded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148973,"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":[4430,2649,1521,3830,4052,3808,4884,4122,2249,6028,4067,1799,3791,3772,4282,4944,4092,2315,105,3792,5428,1635,298,4307,5063,4193],"class_list":["post-72851","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-barbed-wire","tag-common-sunflower","tag-eastern-kingbird","tag-fence","tag-flight","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-flying","tag-hawking","tag-helianthus-annuus","tag-immature","tag-insects","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-refuge","tag-summer-3","tag-sunflowers","tag-take-off","tag-taking-off","tag-tyrannus-tyrannus","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2","tag-wildflowers","tag-yellow-wildflowers","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5899.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-iX1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40918,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/14\/eastern-kingbird-hawking-insects-from-a-fence-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":72851,"position":0},"title":"Eastern 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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":6022,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/31\/springtime-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":72851,"position":3},"title":"Springtime Eastern Kingbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The scientific name of Eastern Kingbirds is Tyrannus tyrannus, Tyrannus means \"tyrant\" and they are well named because they will harass any bird that comes near their nests including crows, ravens and much larger birds like hawks.","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 back view, 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-mia-mcpherson-5990.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-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5209,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/21\/perched-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":72851,"position":4},"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":72851,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72851","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=72851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}