{"id":115512,"date":"2023-08-29T04:11:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T10:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=115512"},"modified":"2023-08-29T04:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T10:11:40","slug":"molting-and-shaggy-immature-common-raven-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/29\/molting-and-shaggy-immature-common-raven-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Molting And Shaggy Immature Common Raven Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed photographing this molting, shaggy immature Common Raven yesterday morning while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n

\"MoltingMolting immature Common Raven portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 2000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Oddly, I was in Summit County and the young raven was in Morgan County when I took this portrait. I had just crossed the county line when I turned around to take images of the ravens I found there. There was one adult and three young Common Ravens in that area. The adult wouldn’t cooperate and kept moving away from me, but this immature raven stuck around.<\/p>\n

The immature Common Raven<\/span><\/a> is undergoing a molt which is why it looks so shaggy. The other young ravens that were nearby looked this raggedy too.<\/p>\n

Aesthetically, this probably isn’t the most appealing photo of an immature Common Raven that I have ever taken, but it accurately shows the phase the young raven was going through. The short head and facial feathers make the young ravens bill look even larger.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the morning while I was driving up into the mountains, I saw a pair of Common Ravens snuggled next to each other on a tree branch. I cursed my bad luck at the time because there wasn’t any way for me to safely stop and photograph those ravens on the narrow, winding road. Instead, I was able to take images of this young raven.<\/p>\n

In just a short period of time this immature Common Raven will look less shaggy and more appealing to other people.<\/p>\n

Me?<\/p>\n

I really like this portrait because it shows what molt actually looks like in these large corvids up close.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I enjoyed photographing this molting, shaggy immature Common Raven yesterday morning while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115507,"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":[27,219,4594,26,773],"tags":[3940,4142,1544,4257,4067,2312,2313,4069,4046,10298,4751,2732,14300,2315,4193],"class_list":["post-115512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-ravens","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-common-raven","tag-corvus-corax","tag-immature","tag-molt","tag-molting","tag-mountains","tag-portrait","tag-raggedy","tag-raven","tag-ravens","tag-shaggy","tag-summer-3","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/common-raven-molting-mia-mcpherson-8962.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-u36","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98971,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/15\/bear-river-mbr-common-raven-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":115512,"position":0},"title":"Bear River MBR Common Raven Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week as I drove slowly around the auto tour route at Bear River MBR I was able to take a short series of Common Raven photos as they played on the ice.","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":"Winter Common Raven close up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-raven-adult-shaggy-throat-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-raven-adult-shaggy-throat-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-raven-adult-shaggy-throat-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-raven-adult-shaggy-throat-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116882,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/10\/molting-immature-cedar-waxwing-in-fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":115512,"position":1},"title":"Molting Immature Cedar Waxwing In Fall","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I was tickled to photograph a molting immature Cedar Waxwing yesterday morning high in the Wasatch Mountains. The forest setting was quite messy.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Molting immature Cedar Waxwing, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/cedar-waxwing-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-2809.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/cedar-waxwing-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-2809.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/cedar-waxwing-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-2809.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/cedar-waxwing-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-2809.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Trees – Fattening Up Before Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Lazuli Bunting in a Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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