{"id":2884,"date":"2011-08-09T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2884"},"modified":"2026-04-01T06:23:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:23:47","slug":"bison-of-antelope-island-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/08\/09\/bison-of-antelope-island-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Bison of Antelope Island State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142411 size-full\" title=\"Bison cow and calves, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848.jpg\" alt=\"Bison cow and calves, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"574\" data-id=\"10339\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27574%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20574%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27574%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-200x135.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-250x169.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-400x270.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-600x405.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848-800x540.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-herd-calves-mia-mcpherson-2848.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Bison cow and calves, Antelope Island State Park &#8211;\u00a0\u00a0Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, handheld, 18-200mm VR at 60mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As much as I love going to Antelope Island State Park to photograph birds I also enjoy going there to see and photograph the furry animals that can be found there. The Bison herds on the island are fun to photograph at all times of the year.<\/p>\n<p>These images were taken in June\u00a0weeks after the cows had given birth to the calves. There are natural springs that flow near the edge of the island and quite often during the summer the herds will gather and head down there to get fresh water. It is not unusual to see over 200 of them in the same general location.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142412 size-full\" title=\"Bison calf on Antelope Island, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg\" alt=\"Bison calf on Antelope Island, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"10338\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Bison calf on Antelope Island &#8211;\u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"color: #888888;\">Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, handheld, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I especially love seeing the lighter, red-colored calves, they really do have such innocent looking faces. Bison calves stick close to their mothers but I&#8217;ve seen them kicking up their heels in what looks to be play.<\/p>\n<p>I think this one was curious about us sitting there photographing it because it came so close I had to lay down my D200 that had my 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC and pick up the spare D200 with the 18-200mm VR lens on it because the calf was getting too close to get it all in focus.<\/p>\n<p>I think Utah rocks with all the birds, animals and stunning scenery throughout the state. Am I happy I moved here?<\/p>\n<p><strong>You betcha!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-bison-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Bison photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As much as I love going to Antelope Island State Park to photograph birds I also enjoy going there to see and photograph the furry animals that can be found there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142412,"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":[443,511,26],"tags":[4463,58,745,890,888,889,3981,891,887,519,4035,30,102,4032],"class_list":["post-2884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-utah","tag-american-bison","tag-antelope-island-sp","tag-bison-bison","tag-bulls","tag-calves","tag-cows","tag-davis-county","tag-grassy-slopes","tag-herd","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-utah-2","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Kw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14851,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/28\/american-bison-calving-season-on-antelope-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":0},"title":"American Bison Calving Season On Antelope Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"American Bison calving season on Antelope Island State Park begins around mid-April and yesterday I was able to get some nice images of the cows and their rusty red colored calves.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison calf and cow on Antelope Island, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-bison-cow-calf-mia-mcpherson-9220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-bison-cow-calf-mia-mcpherson-9220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-bison-cow-calf-mia-mcpherson-9220.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-bison-cow-calf-mia-mcpherson-9220.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15041,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/24\/bison-babies-and-lewiss-flax\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":1},"title":"Bison Babies And Lewis&#8217;s Flax","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lewis's Flax are blooming on Antelope Island right now and to my delight there was a large herd of American Bison and their calves resting and grazing among the wildflowers yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison calf in a field of Lewis\u2019s Flax, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8659.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8659.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8659.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8659.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2467,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/09\/bison-bull-dust-bath\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":2},"title":"Bison Bull Dust Bath","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I think it is amazing to see a huge Bison; weighing up to and over 2200 pounds, rolling around on the ground with apparent ease.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison bull bliss in a dust wallow, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27221,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/06\/the-american-bison-calves-are-not-so-little-or-red-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":3},"title":"The American Bison Calves Are Not So Little Or Red Now","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Newly born American Bison calves are called \"Reds\" or Little Reds\" after they are born in the spring and compared to the darker adults they appear very red.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An American Bison calf in July, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5298,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/06\/bison-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":4},"title":"Bison On Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"With the rising temperatures the American Bison on Antelope Island need to find a reliable freshwater source.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Antelope Island American Bison herd making their way to the freshwater springs, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antelope-island-bison-mia-mcpherson-0601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antelope-island-bison-mia-mcpherson-0601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antelope-island-bison-mia-mcpherson-0601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antelope-island-bison-mia-mcpherson-0601.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4739,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/05\/bison-bull-shedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":2884,"position":5},"title":"American Bison Bull Shedding","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Every day that I spend in the field is always marvelous but it seems especially wonderful during the change of seasons because I feel a heightened sense of anticipation for the first of the year birds, the first spotting of wildflowers blooming or the seasonal changes that wildlife exhibits in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shedding Bison bull grazing near White Rock Bay, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-shedding-mia-mcpherson-6922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-shedding-mia-mcpherson-6922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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