{"id":31630,"date":"2015-11-04T07:36:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T13:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=31630"},"modified":"2022-01-25T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:41:14","slug":"a-canvasback-drake-on-a-frigid-february-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/04\/a-canvasback-drake-on-a-frigid-february-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Canvasback drake on a frigid February morning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-99273 size-full\" title=\"Drake Canvasback in breeding plumage during the winter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251.jpg\" alt=\"Drake Canvasback in breeding plumage during the winter in Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" 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\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-utah-mia-mcpherson-6251.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/>Drake Canvasback in breeding plumage &#8211; Nikon D300, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While looking for some other ducks images yesterday I came across a few images of this Canvasback drake and realized I had never posted this duck species on my blog before. I don&#8217;t see Canvasbacks often and usually when I do they are off in the distance or extremely skittish. So when I came across this Canvasback drake on a frigid February morning at a pond near where I live I simply had to get a few images of him. I was only able to take about 15 images before&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-99272 size-full\" title=\"Canvasback drake running across the water\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259.jpg\" alt=\"Canvasback drake running across the water, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27542%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20542%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27542%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-200x128.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-250x159.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-400x255.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-600x383.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-768x490.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259-800x510.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Canvasback drake running across the water &#8211; Nikon D300, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He got spooked by a fisherman walking up to the ice-covered pond edge and then the Canvasback took off running across the water until it felt secure again. Of course when the duck did that it put him at quite a distance from me. I don&#8217;t blame the fisherman for scaring off the Canvasback but I truly would have liked being able to take more images of this drake in his breeding plumage.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/canvasback-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Canvasback photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I came across the Canvasback drake on a frigid February morning at a pond near where I live I simply had to get a few images of him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99272,"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":[27,4708,709,26],"tags":[4004,4710,4053,4709,4711,4483,1129,126,4062,1984,4148,8018,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-31630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-canvasbacks","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-aythya-valisineria","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-canvasback","tag-diving-duck","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-pond","tag-running","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-drake-running-utah-mia-mcpherson-6259.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8ea","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119257,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/20\/six-canvasback-hen-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":0},"title":"Six Canvasback Hen Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing six Canvasback hen photos that were taken two winters ago. I found the hen mixed in with other ducks at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Canvasback in flight, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-8211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-8211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-8211.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-8211.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107865,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/09\/hen-canvasback-preening-her-belly\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":1},"title":"Hen Canvasback Preening Her Belly","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this photo of a hen Canvasback preening her belly feathers at my local pond back in January of 2021 and thought I would share it this morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Canvasback preening her belly feathers, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-female-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-8155.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-female-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-8155.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-female-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-8155.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-female-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-8155.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":99250,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/25\/bathing-canvasback-hen-and-the-story-behind-the-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":2},"title":"Bathing Canvasback Hen And The Story Behind The Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this bathing Canvasback hen three days ago at a pond close to home I was really happy to see her doing well and doing what ducks do.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Canvasback shaking her feathers, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-and-reflections-mia-mcpherson-1545.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-and-reflections-mia-mcpherson-1545.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-and-reflections-mia-mcpherson-1545.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/canvasback-hen-and-reflections-mia-mcpherson-1545.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17154,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/18\/edit-greater-scaup-drake-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":3},"title":"Greater Scaup Drake At Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This Greater Scaup drake is making the transition into his breeding plumage and was in among American Coots, a resting female scaup, Pied-Billed Grebes and a single Canvasback.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Greater Scaup drake, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/greater-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9265.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/greater-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9265.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/greater-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9265.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/greater-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9265.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":77816,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/15\/photographing-winter-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Winter Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Coots&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye displaying, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121750,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/22\/what-happened-to-winter-in-the-salt-lake-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":31630,"position":5},"title":"What Happened To Winter In The Salt Lake Valley?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It is almost the end of February and I'm wondering what happened to winter this year in the Salt Lake Valley. Has winter gone on walkabout? Where is the snow?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish catch, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.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\/31630","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=31630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}