{"id":107402,"date":"2022-10-20T04:05:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=107402"},"modified":"2022-10-20T05:23:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T11:23:23","slug":"jordan-river-mallard-drake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/20\/jordan-river-mallard-drake\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan River Mallard Drake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JordanJordan River Mallard drake in low light \u2013 Nikon D500, handheld, f7.1, 1\/100, ISO 1000, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took this low light Mallard drake photo yesterday while I walked along the Jordan River in the chill of the early morning. The cottonwood trees lining the river bank meant I had shade where this drake and a Mallard hen were foraging in the fast moving water.<\/p>\n

Even though I was hand holding the camera, I managed to capture the duck sharp enough to my liking despite my shutter speed being slow enough to blur the water in the background. The water dripping from the drake’s bill was a messy blurry though.<\/p>\n

This was the one and only photo that I took yesterday that I liked well enough to share.<\/p>\n

Mallards are very abundant in my area yet I don’t like to pass up opportunities to photograph them. This time of the year the drake Mallards can look pretty sharp in their breeding plumage. It still excites me to have them in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

Later in the morning when the light was better on the river I walked by where the mallards had been and found that they had moved on.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I took this low light Mallard drake photo yesterday while I walked along the Jordan River in the chill of the early morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107398,"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":[27,965,709,26],"tags":[4004,4237,970,4483,1129,126,4620,5556,501,13400,156,4062,1604,5558,8018,3996,2063],"class_list":["post-107402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-autumn","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-fall","tag-jordan-river","tag-jordan-river-parkway-trail","tag-jordan-river-trail","tag-low-light-2","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-river","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/mallard-drake-jordan-river-mia-mcpherson-1334.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rWi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50736,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/21\/snowy-high-key-mallard-drake-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":107402,"position":0},"title":"Snowy High Key Mallard Drake Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My favorite image of the day was this high key Mallard drake portrait that was taken in the late afternoon which was the only time I could see the sun behind the clouds the whole day.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key Mallard drake portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/09\/calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":107402,"position":1},"title":"Calling Mallard Drake In The City","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn't resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Mallard drake on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/02\/drake-mallards-in-breeding-and-eclipse-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":107402,"position":2},"title":"Drake Mallards in Breeding and Eclipse Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I was able to photograph a Mallard drake as it lifted off from the water on the south side of the auto tour loop.","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":"Drake Mallard in eclipse plumage, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-3314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-3314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-3314.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-3314.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108145,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/19\/drake-mallard-and-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":107402,"position":3},"title":"Drake Mallard And Reflections","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing a simple drake Mallard photo taken at my local pond. I liked this image because of the reflections of the duck, light pole and leaf.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Mallard reflections, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/mallard-reflection-leaf-mia-mcpherson-3767.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/mallard-reflection-leaf-mia-mcpherson-3767.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/mallard-reflection-leaf-mia-mcpherson-3767.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/mallard-reflection-leaf-mia-mcpherson-3767.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"November 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge a few days ago I saw lots of ducks in the marshes and on the water and I realized that I am looking forward to photographing winter ducks again.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mallard drake flying in to land, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-male-landing-mia-mcpherson-7237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-male-landing-mia-mcpherson-7237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-male-landing-mia-mcpherson-7237.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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