{"id":119471,"date":"2024-01-03T03:56:04","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T10:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=119471"},"modified":"2024-01-03T03:56:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T10:56:24","slug":"drake-northern-pintail-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/03\/drake-northern-pintail-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Northern Pintail At Bear River MBR On New Year’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was thrilled to find and photograph a handsome drake Northern Pintail out on the auto tour loop of Bear River MBR<\/span><\/a> on New Year’s Day morning.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Northern Pintail standing on ice \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Northern Pintails are year-round residents in my area of Utah; I just don’t have them in my viewfinder as often as I would like. Considering that several vehicles had passed by me that morning, I felt fortunate that this drake was still hanging around close to the road.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the people that passed me were moving way too fast to even see this duck in the marsh vegetation. Their loss was my golden opportunity with this pintail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Pintail on New Year’s Day\u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

The drake Northern Pintail didn’t seem distressed by my presence in my Jeep, which allowed me to take quite a few images of him in the canal next to the road.<\/p>\n

Pintails are striking, long-necked dabbling ducks. The pintail hens may not be as striking as the drakes, but they are gorgeous in their own right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"DrakeDrake Northern Pintail shaking his feathers \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The drake pintail even shook his feathers once, which allowed me to take this image through some phrags. The out-of-focus phragmites created a natural vignette in this frame. This was one of my favorite images from my trip around the auto tour loop on New Year’s Day.<\/p>\n

Even though my trip to the refuge was a bit scary due to the heavy fog on the interstate, I had a marvelous time with the birds I found. It was a great, peaceful, positive way to start the New Year.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I was thrilled to find and photograph a handsome drake Northern Pintail out on the auto tour loop of Bear River MBR on New Year’s Day morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119464,"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":[124,27,1148,966,26],"tags":[4004,978,4717,4483,1129,126,5025,4064,4062,4094,4378,6924,2441,9647,9648,4502,953,2063,4095,373],"class_list":["post-119471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-northern-pintails","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anas-acuta","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-feathers","tag-ice","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-morning","tag-new-years-day","tag-northern-pintail","tag-pintail","tag-pintails","tag-shaking","tag-standing","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-new-years-day-mia-mcpherson-1004.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-v4X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100485,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/08\/drake-northern-pintail-lift-off-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":0},"title":"Drake Northern Pintail Lift Off Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning and came home with some drake Northern Pintail lift off images that I am pleased with.","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 Northern Pintail lifting off from water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28767,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/30\/a-drake-northern-pintail-at-farmington-bay-on-a-december-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":1},"title":"Drake Northern Pintail at Farmington Bay on a January Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking about this upcoming winter wondering if we will get a normal amount of snow and of course about the birds I will see on cold mornings at Farmington Bay.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Pintail drake pano, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26914,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/26\/an-assortment-of-birds-from-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-this-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":2},"title":"An Assortment of Birds from Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge This Week","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I posted a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope and today I am posting an assortment of others birds I photographed the same day at Bear River NWR.","rel":"","context":"In "American White Pelicans"","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Crane right after the sunrise, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-mia-mcpherson-7067.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-mia-mcpherson-7067.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-mia-mcpherson-7067.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-mia-mcpherson-7067.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18426,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/03\/bison-kestrels-and-pintails\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":3},"title":"Bison, Kestrels, and Pintails","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent the yesterday morning photographing with two great friends at Antelope Island State Park and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and had a wonderful time.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Pintail drake at Farmington Bay, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-winter-drake-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-winter-drake-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-winter-drake-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-winter-drake-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100612,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/12\/ducks-on-the-wing-over-the-marsh-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":4},"title":"Ducks On The Wing Over The Marsh At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this photo of ducks on the wing over the marsh on my most recent trip up to the wetlands of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "American Wigeons"","block_context":{"text":"American Wigeons","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/ducks\/american-wigeons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ducks on the wing over the marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/mallard-northern-shoveler-pintail-wigeon-gw-teal-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-0540.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56415,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/05\/photographing-tundra-swans-and-northern-pintails-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":119471,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Tundra Swans And Northern Pintails In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Our Tundra Swans won't be at the refuge much longer and will soon be winging their way to their breeding grounds in the Arctic and I realize that my opportunities to photograph them before they leave are dwindling.","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":"Tundra Swans and Northern Pintails lifting off from the marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-low-light-northern-pintail-flight-mia-mcpherson-6724.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-low-light-northern-pintail-flight-mia-mcpherson-6724.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-low-light-northern-pintail-flight-mia-mcpherson-6724.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tundra-swan-low-light-northern-pintail-flight-mia-mcpherson-6724.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\/119471","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=119471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}