{"id":8850,"date":"2013-07-11T03:45:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T09:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8850"},"modified":"2024-11-21T04:25:04","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T10:25:04","slug":"black-crowned-night-heron-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-crowned Night Heron at Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> is one of my favorite Utah locations to photograph birds, I was there two days ago and the south section of the auto tour route had the most action because it currently has the most water.<\/p>\n

\"Black-crownedBlack-crowned Heron foraging<\/span><\/p>\n

I spotted this Black-crowned Night Heron that was almost hidden by the vegetation but as soon as I stopped it darted towards some open water in foraging mode. After a bit the heron appeared to just be resting so I left it to doze.<\/p>\n

\"Black-crownedBlack-crowned Night Heron in flight over the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/p>\n

Further down the road I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe on a nest and I stopped to photograph it, there was a dark SUV coming up and as it drew closer I could see that the Black-crowned Night Heron had taken flight and was flying towards me in nice light. I was able to get a series of about 15 images of the heron before it passed the vehicle I was in.<\/p>\n

\"Black-crownedBlack-crowned Night Heron fly by<\/span><\/p>\n

I am almost certain that the driver of the SUV with Washington plates didn’t mean to scare up the heron but it did give me an opportunity to photograph this Black-crowned Night Heron in flight.<\/p>\n

Today marks my 800th post on my blog, it seems like only a few months ago I announced my 500th post!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I spotted this Black-crowned Night Heron that was almost hidden by the vegetation but as soon as we stopped it darted towards some open water in foraging mode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137212,"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":[124,27,321,1148,26],"tags":[4004,1533,4052,4122,4136,627,626,3956,3957,4292,4018,313],"class_list":["post-8850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-black-crowned-night-herons","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-black-crowned-night-heron","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-foraging","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nycticorax-nycticorax","tag-sky","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-4478.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2iK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101968,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/29\/adult-black-crowned-night-heron-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":8850,"position":0},"title":"Adult Black-crowned Night Heron In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost a 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31489,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/01\/waiting-for-the-shot-black-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":8850,"position":1},"title":"Waiting For The Shot – Black-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On the first of September I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge when I spotted a Black-crowned Night Heron hidden in the phragmites.","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 over the refuge, Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-3421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-3421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-4465.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-mia-mcpherson-4465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-4465.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-mia-mcpherson-4465.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95720,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/28\/immature-black-crowned-night-heron-in-marsh-habitat\/","url_meta":{"origin":8850,"position":4},"title":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron In Marsh Habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly hidden in the marsh vegetation was an immature Black-crowned Night Heron perched on some phrags at the edge of the water.","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":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with its eyes on prey, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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