{"id":120075,"date":"2024-01-23T04:31:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T11:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=120075"},"modified":"2024-01-23T04:32:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T11:32:32","slug":"low-light-american-robin-kicking-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/23\/low-light-american-robin-kicking-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Light American Robin Kicking Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a dreary, low-light kind of day last winter when I photographed this American Robin kicking snow to uncover frozen crabapples for breakfast from my Jeep.<\/p>\n

Last winter was extremely snowy for the Salt Lake Valley, and the birds needed every calorie they could eat to survive. The crabapple trees were pretty much picked clean by the end of January.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Robin kicking snow in low light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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This winter, we are getting plenty of snow in the mountains in northern Utah; in the Salt Lake Valley, though, not so much.<\/p>\n

There are still plenty of overripe crabapples hanging in the trees for the House Finches, Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, and other birds to gorge on when they need them. I check the crabapple trees out whenever I get a chance.<\/p>\n

From one winter to the next, conditions can be very different making it harder or easier for the birds here to survive the coldest months of the year.<\/p>\n

Last winter was hard on the birds here. This winter in the valley, it seems like the birds are doing well\u2014at least, so far.<\/p>\n

This low light photo of the American Robin kicking up snow on a dreary day is probably not appealing to everyone’s tastes. That is fine with me. I take photos for myself, and if I like them, no matter the lighting conditions or how abundant the species is, they usually find their way here.<\/p>\n

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In this photo, I see the American Robin<\/span><\/a> struggling in the snow to find food for the calories it needed to survive. When I took the photo, I felt empathy for the bird’s struggle. When I look at the image, I still have that feeling.<\/p>\n

There is always a story behind my images\u2014an authentic story about birds and nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

It was a dreary, low-light kind of day last winter when I photographed this American Robin kicking snow to uncover frozen crabapples for breakfast from my Jeep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120071,"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":[456,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,2427,6962,10009,156,6642,5199,4050,4328,14656,9073,3844,4881,1048,8018,373],"class_list":["post-120075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-robins","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-robin","tag-crabapples","tag-kicking","tag-low-light-2","tag-robin","tag-robins","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-struggle","tag-survive","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-turdus-migratorius","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-robin-adult-kicking-snow-mia-mcpherson-0925.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-veH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58989,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/14\/american-robins-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":120075,"position":0},"title":"American Robins In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Just looking at these photos of American Robins in the deep snow made me feel a few degrees cooler and I thought they might have the same effects on other people dealing with the high temps of summer too.","rel":"","context":"In "American Robins"","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An American Robin in deep snow with an eye on the sky, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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