{"id":109008,"date":"2022-12-26T05:23:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T12:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=109008"},"modified":"2023-01-02T04:09:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T11:09:01","slug":"made-it-through-christmas-and-i-am-just-ducky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/26\/made-it-through-christmas-and-i-am-just-ducky\/","title":{"rendered":"Made It Through Christmas And I Am Just Ducky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, I made it through the Christmas part of the holidays this year in one piece and I am feeling just ducky.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-109004 size-full\" title=\"Hen Mallard on ice with a feather on her bill\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474.jpg\" alt=\"Hen Mallard on ice with a feather on her bill, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Hen Mallard on ice with a feather on her bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When there was a bit of sunlight on Christmas Eve afternoon I walked around my local pond and photographed this <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mallard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mallard<\/span><\/a> hen. I told her I was feeling just ducky too. From the look on her face I have to wonder if she believed me or if she was wondering why I was talking to her at all.<\/p>\n<p>I loved warm tones of her plumage against the ice cold blues of the ice that covered about 1\/4 of the pond.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-109005 size-full\" title=\"2022 into 2023 forecast\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast.jpg\" alt=\"2022 into 2023 forecast\" width=\"387\" height=\"825\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27387%27%20height%3D%27825%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20387%20825%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27387%27%20height%3D%27825%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast-117x250.jpg 117w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast-141x300.jpg 141w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast-200x426.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-into-2023-forecast.jpg 387w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">2022 into 2023 forecast<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The long range forecast isn&#8217;t looking great for getting bright light for my bird photography here in my neck of the woods. We need all the snow we can get though to fill up our reservoirs and the rivers which will hopefully help the Great Salt Lake, some.<\/p>\n<p>I love photographing birds when there is falling snow and it looks like I will have a few opportunities to do that in the next week to ten days. Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/mallard-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mallard photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, I made it through the Christmas part of the holidays this year in one piece and I am feeling just ducky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109004,"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":[4237,5552,4717,1129,126,13571,4608,4070,4359,4064,1604,7951,1984,8018,2063,373],"class_list":["post-109008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-bill","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-ducky","tag-feather","tag-female","tag-hen","tag-ice","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6474.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-smc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/28\/mallard-hen-with-duckling-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":109008,"position":0},"title":"Mallard Hen with Duckling at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I was close I wasn't able to get a single image with all of the ducklings and the hen in the frame so I focused on the Mallard hen and with one duckling resting right behind her.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Mallard hen with duckling, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3175,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/10\/01\/things-are-getting-ducky-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":109008,"position":1},"title":"Things Are Getting Ducky In Utah!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Another wonderful change that I have been seeing is that a variety of duck species have been arriving at the Great Salt Lake","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening hen Bufflehead, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bufflehead-female-preening-mia-mcpherson-3695.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bufflehead-female-preening-mia-mcpherson-3695.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bufflehead-female-preening-mia-mcpherson-3695.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bufflehead-female-preening-mia-mcpherson-3695.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107402,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/20\/jordan-river-mallard-drake\/","url_meta":{"origin":109008,"position":2},"title":"Jordan River Mallard Drake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this low light Mallard drake photo yesterday while I walked along the Jordan River in the chill of the early morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jordan River Mallard drake in low light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/mallard-drake-jordan-river-mia-mcpherson-1334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/mallard-drake-jordan-river-mia-mcpherson-1334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/mallard-drake-jordan-river-mia-mcpherson-1334.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/mallard-drake-jordan-river-mia-mcpherson-1334.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119309,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/24\/jolly-drake-mallard-on-christmas-eve\/","url_meta":{"origin":109008,"position":3},"title":"Jolly Drake Mallard On Christmas Eve","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I went through all of the photos I have taken on Christmas eve throughout the years and this jolly-looking drake Mallard spoke the loudest to me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jolly drake Mallard, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/mallard-drake-jolly-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/mallard-drake-jolly-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/mallard-drake-jolly-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/mallard-drake-jolly-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":78044,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/20\/mallard-hen-on-slippery-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":109008,"position":4},"title":"Mallard Hen On Slippery Ice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I took a series of photos of a Mallard hen as she landed on slippery ice at a pond close to home in Salt Lake City.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Mallard sliding on her belly on ice, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-5488.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-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-5488.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-5488.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-hen-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-5488.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":109008,"position":5},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}