{"id":119515,"date":"2024-01-04T04:01:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T11:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=119515"},"modified":"2024-01-13T03:19:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T10:19:59","slug":"fun-drake-mallard-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/04\/fun-drake-mallard-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Drake Mallard At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

On New Year’s Day morning, I had fun photographing a drake Mallard from the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> as he lifted off from the marsh.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Year’s Day Mallard drake at Bear River MBR \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not convinced that this drake Mallard is 100% wild. He looks as if there may be some domesticated Mallard genes in his DNA profile. He just seemed a little plumper than the completely wild Mallards I am used to seeing at the refuge.<\/p>\n

Whatever his genetic background was, I still had fun photographing him as he squatted down in preparation to lifting off from the ice.<\/p>\n

\"MallardMallard drake lifting off from ice \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

To my surprise, in the next frame, I was able to photograph the drake with his wings lifted and his webbed feet still planted firmly on the ice. I thought that this pose looked slightly comical, but that might just be my sense of humor coming out.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Mallard in flight on New Year’s Day \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two frames later, the drake Mallard was in the air above the ice-covered marsh. There was something funny about this individual photo that made me giggle. The Mallard just kind of looked happy to me.<\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah, I know, that is anthropomorphic<\/span><\/a>. Well, I am only human after all. Part of my storytelling is writing about what I was thinking or feeling at the time, and that is what I was thinking when I took this photo of the drake Mallard.<\/p>\n

Today it has been 6 months since my mom died. I miss her so much. She would want me to find my joy and I do with birds, my family, and my true friends that wrap their arms around me even from many miles away.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

On New Year’s Day morning, I had fun photographing a drake Mallard from the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge as he lifted off from the marsh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119507,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,965,26],"tags":[4004,4237,14512,4007,4008,4053,6330,4483,126,4052,4122,4064,4944,4062,1604,7951,4094,6924,5428,30,3996,2063,4095,373],"class_list":["post-119515","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-mallards","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-bear-river-mbr","tag-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","tag-box-elder-county","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-dabbling-duck","tag-drake","tag-ducks-2","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-ice","tag-lifting-off","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-marsh","tag-new-years-day","tag-taking-off","tag-utah-2","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t