{"id":106138,"date":"2022-09-13T03:26:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T09:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=106138"},"modified":"2022-09-13T13:54:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T19:54:16","slug":"adult-virginia-rail-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/13\/adult-virginia-rail-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Virginia Rail Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Virginia Rail portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning while I was at Farmington Bay<\/span><\/a> I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to be able to take these Virginia Rail portraits. I had stopped to talk to my friend and fellow photographer David Eccles. We chatted for a bit and then he went south and I started moving towards the north. I had only driven about 25 feet when I spotted this adult Virginia Rail. Perched on a rock. Out in the open.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Virginia Rail close up \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

My jaw dropped as I stopped my Jeep and grabbed my camera. The rail was so close to the edge of the road that without taking off my teleconverter I could only take portraits of the handsome bird. Anyone who has been following me here for any length of time or knows me in person knows I can’t pass up taking portraits.<\/p>\n

I was beaming so hard I am surprised that my face didn’t melt off. Until yesterday I had never been this close to a Virginia Rail.<\/p>\n

I quickly started taking photos and adjusted my aperture on the fly. A quick glance through my windshield allowed me to see a small, red flatbed pickup barreling towards me with dust flying into the air behind them. I knew I had to hurry and take as many photos of the rail as I could because that red pickup was going to scare the rail away as fast as it was traveling.<\/p>\n

\"VirginiaVirginia Rail portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took 124 photos of this striking rail before that horrible red flatbed pickup flushed it into a nearby wild rose bush. No one should be traveling that dirt road as fast as they were going.<\/p>\n

\"VirginiaVirginia Rail close up \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I wish I could have spent more time photographing this Virginia Rail for the rest of the morning I felt like I couldn’t contain my joy for finding and taking portraits this bird. Rails are typically fairly secretive, skulky and hard to see birds but not this one.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday morning while I was at Farmington Bay I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to be able to take these Virginia Rail portraits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,26,4582],"tags":[4004,4142,4094,4046,4585,4586,4584,2315,4583,4095],"class_list":["post-106138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","category-virginia-rails","tag-adult","tag-close-up","tag-marsh","tag-portrait","tag-rail","tag-rails","tag-rallus-limicola","tag-summer-3","tag-virginia-rail","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/virginia-rail-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3270.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rBU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96346,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/16\/how-i-found-this-secretive-virginia-rail-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":106138,"position":0},"title":"How I Found This Secretive Virginia Rail At Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I wanted to write about how I found this secretive Virginia Rail in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Virginia Rail stretching a wing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-autumn-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-8911.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-autumn-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-8911.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28028,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/31\/a-virginia-rail-and-its-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":106138,"position":2},"title":"Adult Virginia Rail And Its Reflection","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am always thrilled when a Virginia Rail comes out into the open because typically they are shy, secretive marsh birds.","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":"Adult Virginia Rail and its reflection at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-mia-mcpherson-1903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-mia-mcpherson-1903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Virginia Rail foraging in water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-foraging-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-foraging-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-foraging-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/virginia-rail-adult-foraging-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1906.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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