{"id":108709,"date":"2022-12-13T04:28:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=108709"},"modified":"2022-12-13T04:28:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:28:23","slug":"december-snow-storm-plus-an-american-coot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/13\/december-snow-storm-plus-an-american-coot\/","title":{"rendered":"December Snow Storm Plus An American Coot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, after I cleared the snow off of my Jeep for the first time, I drove down to my neighborhood pond in a December snow storm to enjoy the snow.<\/p>\n

\"DecemberDecember snow storm in the Salt Lake Valley \u2013 Nikon D810, f10, 1\/320, ISO 1000, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Big, fat snowflakes were falling softly as I walked down to the edge of the pond. I was glad that I had carried my backup Nikon D810 with me and that it had the 19-200mm lens attached so I could get a few photos of the falling snow.<\/p>\n

The light was low and the snow was so thick that I couldn’t see the Wasatch Mountains behind the trees through it.\u00a0 The snow even helped to muffle the sounds of cars on the roads. I took a short video of the snow falling with my cell phone and savored the views and the snowflakes that were landing on my face.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot in a December snow storm \u2013 Nikon D810, f10, 1\/320, ISO 1000, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though this American Coot was a long ways from where I stood I couldn’t resist taking a photo of it in the December snow storm. We need all the moisture we can get from the snow that has been falling this month to help with our ongoing drought conditions. The coot, a water bird, needs the moisture as much, if not more, than we humans do in the Salt Lake Valley.<\/p>\n

I had to scrape more snow off of my Jeep yesterday afternoon just to pull it into the driveway for the night. Even though it is still pitch dark outside my living room window I know more white stuff has fallen overnight and I’ll need to scrape that snow off of my Jeep again this morning if I want to go anywhere to find birds to photograph. Maybe I will just go for a snowy walk along the river this morning to relish and appreciate what this December storm has left for us. Who wants to take a stroll in the snow with me?<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday, after I cleared the snow off of my Jeep for the first time, I drove down to my neighborhood pond in a December snow storm to enjoy the snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108701,"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":[137,27,709,522,26],"tags":[4004,4010,970,2773,4620,4121,1984,4941,4081,4050,4509,4900,4899,4328,4076,8018,3996],"class_list":["post-108709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-salt-lake-valley","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-coot","tag-autumn","tag-coots","tag-fall","tag-fulica-americana","tag-pond","tag-rushes","tag-salt-lake-valley","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowflakes","tag-snowstorm","tag-snowy","tag-trees","tag-urban","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/salt-lake-county-december-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-0444.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-shn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55202,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/03\/american-coots-canada-geese-in-a-winter-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":108709,"position":0},"title":"American Coots & Canada Geese In A Winter Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Neither of these images will knock anyone's socks off but for me they show these coots and geese in the snow storm and the harsh conditions they live in, just birds being birds.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canada Geese in a winter snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-2314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-2314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-2314.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-2314.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118542,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/25\/canada-geese-in-falling-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":108709,"position":1},"title":"Canada Geese In Falling Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I desperately needed a bird break so I went down to my local pond. While I was there I photographed Canada Geese and American Coots in falling snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canada Geese and American Coots in falling snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45213,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/24\/double-crested-cormorant-and-american-coot-in-a-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":108709,"position":3},"title":"Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot in a Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was my photos of a Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot in the snow storm that touched me the most even though both birds are small in the frame.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-coot-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-9253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-coot-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-9253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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