{"id":110967,"date":"2023-03-09T04:34:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T11:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=110967"},"modified":"2023-03-09T05:05:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T12:05:51","slug":"looking-back-on-the-winter-of-2022-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/09\/looking-back-on-the-winter-of-2022-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back On The Winter Of 2022\/2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spring is just days away now and I&#8217;ve been looking back on the winter of of 2022\/2023. As a photographer it has kind of sucked for me. But Utah has gotten plenty of snow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-110964 size-full\" title=\"Bear River MBR in the mirror of my Jeep\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033.jpg\" alt=\"Bear River MBR in the mirror of my Jeep, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27764%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20764%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27764%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-200x170.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-250x212.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-400x340.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-600x509.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-768x652.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033-800x679.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Bear River MBR in the mirror of my Jeep &#8211; Samsung cell phone photo<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Utah needed the snow we have gotten this winter. And the snow has piled up.The ski resorts did well this winter and they will be open later in the spring than they have been in years. I hope the reservoirs in the mountains will benefit from the snows too when spring melt happens.<\/p>\n<p>My problem this winter has been day after day of gray, gloomy skies with not as many birds to be found as there have been in past winters. I simply haven&#8217;t taken as many photos this winter as I have in the past.<\/p>\n<p>I have enjoyed the scenery though and it has done me good to see more snow on the mountain peaks than I have seen in years. The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Promontory_Mountains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Promontory<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oquirrh_Mountains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Oquirrh<\/span><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stansbury_Mountains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Stansbury<\/span><\/a> Mountains along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wasatch_Range\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Wasatch Range<\/span><\/a> have been covered in snow for most of the winter. I have loved seeing those snow covered peaks on the rare sunny days we have had this winter.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe, just maybe, all of this moisture will benefit the birds in those mountains and in the valleys this spring. Plus it will even provide some short term help for the Great Salt Lake and the marshes surrounding it.<\/p>\n<p>I won&#8217;t be sad to see winter leave the mountains, valleys, and deserts in my rear or side view mirrors though. I&#8217;m looking forward to sunshine, warmth, and signs of spring. I am excited about seeing spring migrants. The unfurling of leaves, the greening of grass, and spring bird song.<\/p>\n<p>It has been a very long winter and it isn&#8217;t quite over yet but spring is heading this way.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge landscape photos plus information about the refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spring is just days away now and I&#8217;ve been looking back on the winter of of 2022\/2023. As a photographer it has kind of sucked for me. But Utah has gotten plenty of snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110964,"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":[124,1148,26],"tags":[5792,3747,4109,2059,13701,4094,12498,4069,4528,2326,4018,4050,4095,373],"class_list":["post-110967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-auto-tour-loop","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-haze","tag-jeep","tag-marsh","tag-mirror","tag-mountains","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-road","tag-sky","tag-snow","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bear-river-mbr-in-mirror-mia-mcpherson-084033.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sRN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101694,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/21\/spring-ruby-crowned-kinglet-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":0},"title":"Spring Ruby-crowned Kinglet Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent some time high in the Wasatch Mountains and came home with a few Ruby-crowned Kinglet photos that I liked enough to share.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light Ruby-crowned Kinglet with prey, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-adult-mia-mcpherson-7848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-adult-mia-mcpherson-7848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-adult-mia-mcpherson-7848.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-adult-mia-mcpherson-7848.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50918,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/09\/growing-tired-of-the-winter-that-wasnt-looking-forward-to-spring\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":1},"title":"Growing Tired of the Winter That Wasn&#8217;t &#038; Looking Forward To Spring","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I look up at the tops of the Wasatch, Oquirrh, Stansbury and Promontory mountain ranges and they look more like late April or May than they do on a normal winter because there is just so little snow up there.","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":"Black-necked Stilt on one leg at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-one-leg-mia-mcpherson-5278.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-one-leg-mia-mcpherson-5278.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-one-leg-mia-mcpherson-5278.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-necked-stilt-one-leg-mia-mcpherson-5278.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110378,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/19\/luminous-snow-covered-promontory-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":2},"title":"Luminous Snow-covered Promontory Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was driving to the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR last week, I stopped to take photos of the luminous, snow-covered Promontory Mountains.","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":"Snow-covered Promontory Mountains alpenglow, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/promontory-mountains-glowing-pink-mia-mcpherson-0736.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/promontory-mountains-glowing-pink-mia-mcpherson-0736.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/promontory-mountains-glowing-pink-mia-mcpherson-0736.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/promontory-mountains-glowing-pink-mia-mcpherson-0736.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104011,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/10\/juvenile-green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-side-by-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee Side By Side","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Until two days ago I had never gotten photos of a juvenile Green-tailed and young Spotted Towhee in the same frame so I was thrilled when I saw them fly in.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bird ID&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee comparison, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":111843,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/31\/snow-weary-and-needing-a-bird-fix\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":4},"title":"Snow Weary And Needing A Bird Fix","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"More fresh snow on the ground this morning. I am snow weary. What I need is a bird, nature, gone exploring in the wild fix with no real or clear return time.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Avocets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring male Red-winged Blackbird singing, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1613.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1613.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1613.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-marsh-mia-mcpherson-1613.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110549,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/27\/just-weeks-away-from-taking-uinta-ground-squirrel-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":110967,"position":5},"title":"Just Weeks Away From Taking Uinta Ground Squirrel Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In just about five weeks I should be able to take my first of year Uinta Ground Squirrel photos up in the sage-covered, grassy parts of the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Uinta Ground Squirrel with spring grasses, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/uinta-ground-squirrel-eating-mia-mcpherson-3460.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/uinta-ground-squirrel-eating-mia-mcpherson-3460.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/uinta-ground-squirrel-eating-mia-mcpherson-3460.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/uinta-ground-squirrel-eating-mia-mcpherson-3460.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\/110967","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=110967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}