{"id":8253,"date":"2013-05-01T04:25:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T10:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8253"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:26:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:26:57","slug":"midges-of-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/01\/midges-of-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Midges Of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge And Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SingleA Single Midge<\/span><\/p>\n

Midges are an important food source for the birds that live and breed in the marshes and wetlands of Utah and they have recently begun to hatch. I captured a frame where I could zoom in on a single midge the other day and wanted to share it. It might look a little like a mosquito but they do not bite<\/em> and they do not make the buzzing noise that mosquitoes do.\u00a0 You can hear them if you stop and listen near the columns of midges you can find at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MidgesMidges on cattails<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know if there are two or more species of midges in this image or if they are all the same species but I see some that are smaller than others, some that are grayer and some that are much darker than others that are near them as they rest on cattails.<\/p>\n

\"MidgesMidges on rushes<\/span><\/p>\n

This is another close up of midges resting on rushes at Bear River. Next to the road; which is very close to the water, the vegetation can be covered with midges. The midges do swarm around the cars on the auto tour route and they can tickle when they land on bare skin but they don’t bite.<\/p>\n

\"MidgeMidge Tornadoes <\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve posted this image before on a post I published two years ago titled “Midges and Birds – Food for Thought<\/a>” but wanted to share again how the columns of midges can look like mini tornadoes along the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Those dark columns are hundreds of thousands of midges.<\/p>\n

\"CoyoteCoyote with a Midge in the frame<\/span><\/p>\n

Midges can show up in images unexpectedly as one did in this image of a Coyote I photographed a few days ago on Antelope Island.<\/p>\n

At the time I took this I had no idea there was\u00a0a visible\u00a0midge in the upper right hand corner. I also have plenty of bird images where midges can be seen flying next to a bird or where they are floating on the water.<\/p>\n

The midges aren’t to be confused with the biting gnats (no-see-ums) that are out biting every unsuspecting person on Antelope Island right now, no-see-ums are much smaller than these midges.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midges are an important food source for the birds that live and breed in the marshes and wetlands of Utah and they have recently begun to hatch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":169792,"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":[511,124,1148,100,1022,5736,26],"tags":[733,781,4002,1130,4365,540,519,4035,881,5738,11788,102],"class_list":["post-8253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-coyotes","category-davis-county-utah","category-midges","category-utah","tag-canis-latrans","tag-chironomidae","tag-coyote","tag-food","tag-midge","tag-midges","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-non-biting","tag-swarm","tag-swarms","tag-wildlife"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/coyote-midge-mia-mcpherson-1130.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-297","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45670,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/19\/midge-swarms-messy-annoying-but-an-important-food-source-for-many-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":8253,"position":0},"title":"Midge Swarms – Messy & Annoying But An Important Food Source For Many Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I have complained about the midges in this post because they are messy and annoying but one thing that I feel is critical to mention is that these midges are an important food source for the birds that live and breed at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"Midges on the front of my Jeep, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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xanthocephalus) can perch on cattails, reeds, rushes or mounds of vegetation and snatch Midges right out of the air.","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":"Yellow-headed Blackbird male about to grab a midge from the air, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Swallow","author":"Mia 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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Soon?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"That one midge I saw in the restroom at Bear River MBR did cause me to wonder if the swallows will show up early this year in northern Utah or will the predicted cooler weather cause them arrive at their normal time.","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 stretching on a post, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/barn-swallow-stretching-post-mia-mcpherson-7655.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/barn-swallow-stretching-post-mia-mcpherson-7655.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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