{"id":17223,"date":"2014-11-28T17:36:45","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T00:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=17223"},"modified":"2024-08-27T09:15:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:15:28","slug":"sometimes-i-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/28\/sometimes-i-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes I Wonder About the Birds I Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FirstFirst year Bald Eagle with muddy feet – Nikon D200, f10, 1\/250, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

About the birds I photograph. In February of 2011 there was a first year Bald Eagle at Farmington Bay WMA that seemed totally unafraid and unconcerned about the people near it.<\/p>\n

It ignored people standing within 10 feet of it and one time it flew over my head so low I could feel the air beneath its wings. Having it fly so close to me left me feeling amazed but concerned.<\/p>\n

I recall hoping that the yearling eagle became more wary about people because not everyone has ethics and I worried it might allow someone too close who might harm it. I know that some people are terrible with wildlife.<\/p>\n

Many raptors do not survive their first year due to inexperience in their hunting skills, harsh weather and the dangers of migration. I wonder if this Bald Eagle survived that first year. And the second.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched juvenile Bald Eagle – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 200mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I also wonder where was this eagle came from, where was its natal nest. Was it as far away as Alaska? The Yukon Territory? As close as the Centennial Valley of Montana? Or from one of the Bald Eagle nests located here in Utah?<\/p>\n

Does it still come to Farmington Bay WMA every winter? If so did it survive the outbreak of West Nile Virus of last winter that killed scores of Bald Eagles?<\/p>\n

One thing I don’t wonder about is what this Bald Eagle would look like now, it should look very much like this four year old Bald Eagle<\/a><\/span> that I photographed at Farmington Bay in 2009.<\/p>\n

I probably will always wonder… where is this gorgeous bird today.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

In February of 2011 there was a first year Bald Eagle at Farmington Bay WMA that seemed totally unafraid and unconcerned about the people near it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[846,2663,1098,4152,4067,4071,4094,4104,4063,4095,373,1816],"class_list":["post-17223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bald-eagle","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-bald-eagle","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-first-year","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-raptor","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-yearling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5431.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4tN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1909,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/02\/17\/an-amazing-encounter-or-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":0},"title":"An Amazing Encounter…Or Two With A Young Bald Eagle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've found Bald Eagles difficult to approach most of the time which is why a long lens is often needed. But not this one year old bald eagle.","rel":"","context":"In "Bald Eagles"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Horizontal portrait of a one year old Bald Eagle, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-horizontal-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-horizontal-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-horizontal-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5808.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-horizontal-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5808.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30465,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/19\/bald-eagle-landing-on-ice-in-a-fog-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":1},"title":"Bald Eagle landing on ice in a fog at Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"During the winter Farmington Bay has a large population of overwintering Bald Eagles that migrate down from northern states and Canada.","rel":"","context":"In "Baiting"","block_context":{"text":"Baiting","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife-ethics\/baiting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bald Eagle landing on ice in a fog, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12012,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/19\/two-hours-with-fog-frost-and-a-four-year-old-bald-eagle\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":2},"title":"Two Hours With Fog, Frost And A Four Year Old Bald Eagle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Patience is absolutely a must for bird photographers and it doesn't hurt to throw a little crazy in the mix too. Spending two hours in freezing temps to photograph a bird might be a little crazy.","rel":"","context":"In "Bald Eagles"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four year old Bald Eagle in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bald-eagle-fog-flight-mia-mcpherson-7206.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bald-eagle-fog-flight-mia-mcpherson-7206.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bald-eagle-fog-flight-mia-mcpherson-7206.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bald-eagle-fog-flight-mia-mcpherson-7206.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55893,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/01\/close-up-photos-of-an-immature-bald-eagle-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":3},"title":"Close Up Photos Of An Immature Bald Eagle In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"If I hadn't already been stopped to photograph the blackbird I wouldn't have seen this immature Bald Eagle flying towards me in time to take the photos that I took of it on the wing.","rel":"","context":"In "Bald Eagles"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Bald Eagle in flight close up, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-immature-third-year-mia-mcpherson-0631.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-immature-third-year-mia-mcpherson-0631.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-immature-third-year-mia-mcpherson-0631.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-immature-third-year-mia-mcpherson-0631.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56000,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/09\/barn-owl-immature-bald-eagle-california-and-ring-billed-gulls\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":4},"title":"American Barn Owl, Immature Bald Eagle, California And Ring-billed Gulls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"So, even though I didn't get great photos yesterday I was glad to get out and photograph an American Barn Owl, Bald Eagle and these California and Ring-billed Gulls.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Bald Eagle in front of the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-immature-mia-mcpherson-0978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-immature-mia-mcpherson-0978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-immature-mia-mcpherson-0978.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-immature-mia-mcpherson-0978.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75960,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/10\/photographing-bald-eagles-at-farmington-bay-wma-during-an-inversion\/","url_meta":{"origin":17223,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Bald Eagles At Farmington Bay WMA During An Inversion","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Think carefully before you make a trip to Utah to photograph our overwintering Bald Eagles in the valley. 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