{"id":18407,"date":"2015-01-02T04:55:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T11:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=18407"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:27:24","slug":"a-few-bird-images-from-new-years-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/02\/a-few-bird-images-from-new-years-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird Images From New Years Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"White-crownedWhite-crowned Sparrow on New Years Day 2015 – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It was chilly but bright yesterday morning and there were bluebird skies overhead and Antelope Island State Park beckoned and I of course heeded that call. For me it is always wonderful to spend the first day of the year out photographing the birds I am so passionate about. While I didn’t see all that many species I did spend some time photographing the White-crowned Sparrows that were feeding on the seeds of Rabbitbrush on the island.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a snow-covered Rabbitbrush – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the sparrows I saw were juvenile White-crowned Sparrows and although I did see a few adults they were mostly hidden or kept their distance. It interests me because I do see fewer adults during the winter and far more juveniles whereas in the summer I see more adults than juveniles.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Northern Shoveler in breeding plumage – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up was a short trip to Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management area to see if there were birds that were close enough to photograph and although I did take a few Northern Harrier images I didn’t see that many raptors. Of course there were a few Bald Eagles on the Eagle Tree and this time of the year that is fairly common. I was able to take a few images of Northern Shovelers as they rested and floated on the water. This drake Northern Shoveler is in breeding plumage and really stands out.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Northern Shoveler in eclipse plumage – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There was also this drake who is in eclipse plumage and appears to be going into breeding plumage. I enjoyed having the two drakes in different plumage phases nearly side by side to compare them.<\/p>\n

My year started out great with birds in my viewfinder and I came home with a few bird images from New Years Day.\u00a0 I hope your year started off great too.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

It was chilly but bright yesterday morning and there were bluebird skies overhead and Antelope Island State Park beckoned and I of course heeded that call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150942,"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":[511,27,1022,697,429,26,356],"tags":[4021,4053,4483,1129,126,2113,4067,4071,4062,4094,1137,4289,6968,4903,1963,855,4195,975,2063,4327,373,4256],"class_list":["post-18407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-shovelers","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-bird-photography","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eclipse-plumage","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-shoveler","tag-shovelers","tag-snow-covered-2","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spatula-clypeata","tag-waterfowl","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