{"id":18426,"date":"2015-01-03T06:35:36","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T13:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=18426"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:15:48","slug":"bison-kestrels-and-pintails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/03\/bison-kestrels-and-pintails\/","title":{"rendered":"Bison, Kestrels, and Pintails"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NorthernNorthern Pintail drake at Farmington Bay – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4 x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent the yesterday morning photographing with friends at Antelope Island State Park and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and had a wonderful time.<\/p>\n

At Farmington Bay I missed a few shots of Northern Harriers in flight because I didn’t get focused on them in time but I was delighted to find a drake Northern Pintail where I could take frame filling images of him in his breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Northern Pintail – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4 x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I think of all the ducks in North American that Northern Pintails look the most; for lack of a better word, distinguished. They are elegant and beautifully marked. I took tons of images of this drake and will have to spend quite a bit of time sorting through them.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale American Kestrel perched on an antennae – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4 x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This male American Kestrel was also at Farmington Bay perched on a pickup antennae which seems like an odd place for a kestrel to perch but the pickup was parked close to a field and literally gave this tiny falcon a “bird’s eye view”.<\/p>\n

He was also a fairly sticky bird and all three of us were able to get images of him before he flew to another spot.<\/p>\n

\"GrazingGrazing American Bison on a January day – Nikon D810, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 320, -1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm, FX mode, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And earlier on Antelope Island we found a couple of American Bison<\/span><\/a> bulls pushing their noses into the snow to uncover the dried grasses beneath it. I just can’t get enough bison in the snow images.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison bull grazing through the snow – Nikon D810, f13, 1\/400, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm, FX mode, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I love the thick, dark winter coat of the bison against the pure white snow and those huge faces with snow-covered muzzles.<\/p>\n

It was a wonderful morning spent with friends, birds, great views and wildlife.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Pintail photos, here<\/span><\/a> for American Kestrels, and here<\/span><\/a> for American Bison images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent the yesterday morning photographing with two great friends at Antelope Island State Park and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and had a wonderful time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119485,"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":[443,152,511,27,697,966,26],"tags":[4463,155,978,4021,745,3981,11978,4199,4279,4892,4094,4035,2441,9648,4095,4032,373],"class_list":["post-18426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-american-kestrel","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-pintails","category-utah","tag-american-bison","tag-american-kestrel","tag-anas-acuta","tag-bird-photography","tag-bison-bison","tag-davis-county","tag-desert-island","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcons","tag-kestrels","tag-marsh","tag-nature-photography","tag-northern-pintail","tag-pintails","tag-wetlands","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-winter-drake-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4Nc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28767,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/30\/a-drake-northern-pintail-at-farmington-bay-on-a-december-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":18426,"position":0},"title":"Drake Northern Pintail at Farmington Bay on a January Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking about this upcoming winter wondering if we will get a normal amount of snow and of course about the birds I will see on cold mornings at Farmington Bay.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Pintail drake pano, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-pintail-drake-mia-mcpherson-1725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-pintail-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0058.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6526,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/07\/birds-and-mammals-from-the-past-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":18426,"position":3},"title":"Birds And Mammals From The Past Week","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a few images from this past week.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow on a wild Rose bush in northern Utah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-6965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-6965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-6965.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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