{"id":16000,"date":"2014-09-27T06:17:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T12:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=16000"},"modified":"2025-07-26T08:49:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:49:55","slug":"looking-ahead-to-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/27\/looking-ahead-to-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Ahead To Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The weather has been unseasonably warm here in Utah the past few weeks\u00a0 but I know that it won’t be long before temperatures drop, snow starts falling and I will have opportunities to photograph birds that I only see here in winter. It felt weird yesterday to see a temperature of 77\u00b0F before 7 am but we have had odd weather lately.<\/p>\n

\"LesserLesser Scaup drake – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last winter I was able to photograph this drake Lesser Scaup as it floated near some hens at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. I see these ducks up in Montana during the summer but not here in Utah.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult White Crowned Sparrow on a cold winter day\u00a0– Nikon D300, f10, 1\/200, ISO 400, +1 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is time to check my winter clothing out to see if I need to add to the wardrobe I wear in the field. It gets bitter cold and I want to be prepared for it.<\/p>\n

The White-crowned Sparrows don’t seem to mind the cold much and as soon as the sun warms them they are off searching for food.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile White-crowned Sparrow perched on frost covered Rabbitbrush\u00a0– Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I see other sparrow species in the winter here in Utah but the White-crowned Sparrows seem to be the ones I see most often. The juveniles look very different from the adults but their song is just as beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Raven on a mound of snow\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The snow will fall, the winds will blow, the fog will blot out the Great Salt Lake and the mountaintops and\u00a0the freezing temps will chill me to the bone.<\/p>\n

But guess where I will be?<\/p>\n

Out in it all soaking up the winter scenery and being delighted by the birds that make a home in the Great Basin during the winter.<\/p>\n

Another wonderful thing happens in the winter and it involves people. During the warmer months my fellow bird-loving and photography friends and myself are spread all over the place like dandelion fluff in the wind but during the winter it seems we all\u00a0go to a few locations where large numbers of our birds overwinter and form\u00a0a delightful flock of our own.<\/p>\n

We catch up and share stories of birds we saw in the warmer months and reveal the journeys we have been on. We complain about the cold yet we have a light in our eyes that says we enjoy it all.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We catch up and share stories of birds we saw in the warmer months and reveal the journeys we have been on. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_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":[511,27,219,1022,697,2681,26,356],"tags":[4004,970,2682,1544,4257,4753,4483,1129,4620,4564,4062,4094,6400,6401,3996,4095,4327,373,4256],"class_list":["post-16000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-common-ravens","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-lesser-scaups","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-aythya-affinis","tag-common-raven","tag-corvus-corax","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-fall","tag-lesser-scaup","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-scaup","tag-scaups","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-winter","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"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