{"id":119683,"date":"2024-01-14T04:21:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T11:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=119683"},"modified":"2024-01-14T04:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T11:26:34","slug":"male-mallard-resting-in-snow-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/14\/male-mallard-resting-in-snow-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Mallard Resting In Snow – Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"

I visited my local ponds yesterday morning even though the sky was gray and snow was falling. One of the birds I photographed was this male Mallard resting in the snow.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mallard resting on snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 800, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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As I photographed the Mallard, I thought about my mom. That was my first connection. When I was about 6 years old, I remember my mother knitting a sweater that had a drake Mallard on the garment.<\/p>\n

At that age, I had no idea how hard knitting was, let alone how difficult it must have been to knit a duck in flight on the back of it.<\/p>\n

It was a good memory to have, and I could almost feel my mom’s presence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"MaleMale Mallard watching me photographing him \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 800, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

About the time I finished that thought, the sound of my camera shutter seemed to catch the drake’s attention. The male duck started tilting his head sideways as he looked directly at me.<\/p>\n

Maybe he was trying to figure out where the sound was coming from; perhaps he wasn’t.<\/p>\n

Me? In that moment I felt a connection between the drake Mallard and myself.<\/p>\n

I felt that I had to share at least one image of him that showed his head tilted as he looked directly at me.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Mallard resting on a snowy morning \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 800, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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The light wasn’t great, but this bird was. Even though Mallards<\/span><\/a> are abundant across the country, I still get excited when they are in my viewfinder. The connection I felt with this drake yesterday increased that excitement. The connection I had to the memory of my mom that I recalled as she knitted that sweater was an added joy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I visited my local ponds yesterday even though the sky was gray, and snow was falling. While I was there, I photographed this male Mallard resting in the snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119674,"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":[4004,4237,4142,4717,4483,1129,126,4062,1604,7951,10698,8300,1984,4156,3973,4050,4328,8018,30,7015,2063,373],"class_list":["post-119683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-close-up","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-park","tag-photographing","tag-pond","tag-resting","tag-salt-lake-county","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-urban","tag-utah-2","tag-watching","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-snow-mia-mcpherson-2390.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-v8n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109334,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/05\/dapper-mallard-drake-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":119683,"position":0},"title":"Dapper Mallard Drake In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After I photographed the handsome Gadwall drake that I shared yesterday I couldn't resist taking images of this alert and dapper Mallard drake in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dapper Mallard drake in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/09\/calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":119683,"position":3},"title":"Calling Mallard Drake In The City","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn't resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Mallard drake on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108855,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/20\/mallard-hen-on-silky-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":119683,"position":4},"title":"Mallard Hen On Silky Water","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While at one of my local ponds two days ago, the only birds I photographed were ducks. 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