{"id":121750,"date":"2024-02-22T04:55:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T11:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=121750"},"modified":"2024-02-22T04:56:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T11:56:12","slug":"what-happened-to-winter-in-the-salt-lake-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/22\/what-happened-to-winter-in-the-salt-lake-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happened To Winter In The Salt Lake Valley?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is almost the end of February and I’m wondering what happened to winter this year in the Salt Lake Valley. Has winter gone on walkabout? Where is the snow?<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish catch<\/span><\/p>\n

We’ve barely had any of that white fluffy stuff, and temps have been much warmer than normal. Where there should be ice, there is open water.<\/p>\n

It’s still pitch dark outside and I can see that there is a very, very light skiff of snow on the ground. But that might be only the fifth or sixth time this winter? One day, we did have about three inches when I woke here at home.<\/p>\n

However, last year on this date, there was more than 18 inches of snow where I live. I scraped, shoveled, and snow-blowed for most of the day.<\/p>\n

Sure, last winter was freaky.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It was a record-breaking winter and more like winters were when I first moved to Utah.<\/p>\n

More than anything, though, this winter I’m missing the winter birds at my local ponds. I’ve only seen a few Common Goldeneyes at the pond, usually one adult male by himself. I haven’t seen a single female or immature male. I have yet to find a Red-breasted or Common Merganser. Not even one Canvasback.<\/p>\n

The Ruddy Ducks and Redheads have been at the pond, but they are year-round residents here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

And the nearby crabapples that are usually eaten and gone by mid-February? The House Finches, Cedar Waxwings, and American Robins haven’t needed them to survive. The trees are still full of the over ripened fruits.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, this winter has brought ample snow to our mountain ranges. From my living room window, I can see the snow-capped Oquirrh Mountains; from the street, the snow-covered Wasatch Mountain Range. The snow that has fallen this winter means the Great Salt Lake might survive an extra year. Maybe. Maybe not.<\/p>\n

It has been a weird, wacky winter.<\/span><\/a> Maybe we’ll get a blizzard of snow before winter is officially over. I’m not counting on that. Not one bit.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

It is almost the end of February and I’m wondering what happened to winter this year in the Salt Lake Valley. Has winter gone on walkabout? Where is the snow?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121747,"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":[27,962,709,26],"tags":[4238,11708,4520,2545,2544,4753,4483,1129,126,4286,4040,6348,5586,4067,4062,6955,10698,1984,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-121750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-catch","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-crawdad","tag-crayfish","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eating","tag-feeding","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-mud-bug","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-vFI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/22\/1st-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crawdad\/","url_meta":{"origin":121750,"position":0},"title":"1st Winter Common Goldeneye Drake With A Crawdad","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a quick post this morning of a photo of a 1st winter Common Goldeneye drake with a crawdad in his bill at my neighborhood pond taken last year.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1st winter Common Goldeneye drake with a crawdad, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.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-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":99210,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/24\/first-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":121750,"position":1},"title":"First Winter Common Goldeneye Drake Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I spent a lot of time focused on a first winter Common Goldeneye drake as he swam, foraged, and ate at an urban pond close to home.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Common Goldeneye drake swallowing a crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.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-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108781,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/16\/immature-male-common-goldeneye-and-catfish\/","url_meta":{"origin":121750,"position":2},"title":"Immature Male Common Goldeneye And Catfish","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On this day two years ago, I photographed this immature male Common Goldeneye with a catfish at the pond in my neighborhood. It was a chilly, wintry afternoon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature male Common Goldeneye with a catfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50586,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/08\/common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crayfish-we-were-both-lucky-ducks\/","url_meta":{"origin":121750,"position":3},"title":"Common Goldeneye Drake With A Crayfish – We Were Both Lucky Ducks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It is hard to figure out who is the lucky duck here, the Common Goldeneye for catching the crayfish or me for seeing the duck with the crayfish and photographing it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-3406.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-3406.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-3406.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-3406.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118604,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/28\/first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":121750,"position":4},"title":"First Of Season Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, I found my first-of-season Common Goldeneye drake at my local pond. 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