{"id":37408,"date":"2016-03-25T06:20:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T12:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=37408"},"modified":"2025-09-02T10:22:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:22:24","slug":"mallard-drake-portrait-salt-lake-county-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/25\/mallard-drake-portrait-salt-lake-county-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Mallard Drake Portrait Salt Lake County, Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MallardMallard Drake portrait – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/400, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month while waiting on a Belted Kingfisher<\/a><\/span> to appear at a local pond I also photographed some Mallards that were nearby in Salt Lake County. Some of the ducks were bathing in the water and some were resting on the shore of the small pond.<\/p>\n

I was able to take a Mallard drake portrait of one of the ducks that were close and loved how this showed the blue green iridescence.<\/p>\n

I know they are common, I know that they can be annoying and I also know photographers who won’t stop to photograph them. I’m not one of those photographers. A bird is a bird, right? And mallards are handsome ducks.<\/p>\n

I do have my Nikon D810 back in my hands. I haven’t been able to take it out and use it yet but should be able to do that tomorrow or today if I see a sucker hole in the clouds I can drive down to the local pond and test it out on some ducks.<\/p>\n

I was asked where I took it to get it repaired and thought I would add a link to Spencer’s Camera & Photo<\/span><\/a> for photographers in the Salt Lake Valley area. I have my D810 back much quicker taking it to Spencer’s than if I had sent it to Nikon!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I was able to take a Mallard drake portrait of one of the ducks that were close and loved how this showed the blue green iridescence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153916,"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":[27,965,709,26],"tags":[4237,4142,4483,126,4062,1604,4046,2063],"class_list":["post-37408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-close-up","tag-drake","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-portrait","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3612.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9Jm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62432,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/06\/low-light-drake-mallard-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":37408,"position":0},"title":"Low Light Drake Mallard Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of the low light and snowy conditions on the first day of the year I did not take many photos of the birds that I saw but I did get a few mallard images that I liked.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light portrait of a Mallard drake resting in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/09\/calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":37408,"position":1},"title":"Calling Mallard Drake In The City","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn't resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Mallard drake on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My favorite image of the day was this high key Mallard drake portrait that was taken in the late afternoon which was the only time I could see the sun behind the clouds the whole day.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key Mallard drake portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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