{"id":27846,"date":"2015-08-27T04:55:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T10:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27846"},"modified":"2025-08-19T11:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T16:49:35","slug":"smokey-skies-and-a-great-blue-heron-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/27\/smokey-skies-and-a-great-blue-heron-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Smokey Skies And A Great Blue Heron In Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SmokeySmokey skies and a Great Blue Heron in flight – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The smokey skies we had earlier this week at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> created flat, featureless backgrounds when I photographed birds in flight like this Great Blue Heron.<\/p>\n

On a clear day this Great Blue Heron image would have shown the Promontory Mountains in the distant background instead of the dull gray seen here.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron flying in smokey skies – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I know I would prefer a more interesting background for these images with blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds and the colors of the mountains that I know are back there.<\/p>\n

The smokey skies have cleared up some here so maybe the next time I head to the refuge I will be able to create more interesting images of the birds there in flight.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

On a clear day this Great Blue Heron image would have shown the Promontory Mountains in the distant background instead of the dull gray seen here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152903,"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":[124,27,1148,166,26],"tags":[4117,4052,4122,3987,627,626,1769,313],"class_list":["post-27846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-smokey-sky","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-0649.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7f8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100674,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/14\/young-great-blue-heron-in-front-of-the-promontory-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":0},"title":"Young Great Blue Heron In Front Of The Promontory Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked this image of an immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of the snow covered Promontory Mountains even though the heron is small in the frame.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of snow covered mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48420,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/11\/wading-birds-at-bear-river-mbr-yesterday\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":1},"title":"Wading Birds At Bear River MBR Yesterday","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101968,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/29\/adult-black-crowned-night-heron-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":2},"title":"Adult Black-crowned Night Heron In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost a year ago I had this adult Black-crowned Night Heron in my viewfinder as it flew in front of the Promontory Mountains at Bear River MBR.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-crowned Night Heron flying in front of the Promontory Mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86556,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/01\/great-blue-heron-in-flight-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron In Flight Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing seven Great Blue Heron in flight photos from the marsh at Bear River MBR that I took three days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron with wings fully spread in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2145.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2145.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74822,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/22\/immature-great-blue-heron-with-and-without-the-hand-of-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":4},"title":"Immature Great Blue Heron – With And Without The Hand Of Man","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Is one of these immature Great Blue Heron images more visually appealing than the other? That depends on the personal tastes of the person viewing them.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Great Blue Heron in flight right after lift off, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8824.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8824.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8824.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8824.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":78649,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/31\/winter-great-blue-heron-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":27846,"position":5},"title":"Winter Great Blue Heron In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm keeping it simple today and sharing a single photo of a winter Great Blue Heron in flight over the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Great Blue Heron in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7831.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7831.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}