{"id":4219,"date":"2012-01-26T10:32:06","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T17:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4219"},"modified":"2026-03-29T08:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:40:17","slug":"ride-ride-ride-hitching-a-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/26\/ride-ride-ride-hitching-a-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Ride, ride, ride&#8230;Hitching a ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since moving to Utah in the summer of 2009 I have wanted to get some images of an American Bison standing with the Great Salt Lake in the background. I had gotten them grazing on the hillsides, rolling around in a wallow, with calves, near the rocks and laying down but I hadn&#8217;t gotten the images I wanted with the lake clearly visible in the background.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-10332 size-full\" title=\"European Starling hitching a ride on an American Bison\" src=\"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-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/american-bison-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6522.jpg\" alt=\"European Starling hitching a ride on an American Bison\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"10332\" \/>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #888888;\">European Starling hitching a ride on an American Bison &#8211;\u00a0 Nikon d200, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 170mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As a bird and nature photographer there are always images that I dream of getting, sometimes it is of a certain species or a specific setting. Some of those images I have been fortunate enough to create, others; not yet.<\/p>\n<p>Patience does pay off because two days ago I was able to get a series of images of this bison with the Great Salt Lake clearly in view plus I had the added bonuses of having the snow topped Wasatch Mountain Range in the distance and a European Starling hitching a ride.<\/p>\n<p>So, on to my next &#8220;dream&#8221; shot, I wonder when it will happen.<\/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<p><em>* It isn&#8217;t uncommon to see Brown-headed Cowbirds or European Starlings perched on the backs of bison.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since moving to Utah in the summer of 2009 I have wanted to get some images of an American Bison standing with the Great Salt Lake in the background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120716,"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":[443,511,27,249,26],"tags":[4004,4463,4663,745,593,11978,251,4005,1179,1181,1180,4262,102,4032,373],"class_list":["post-4219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-european-starlings","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-bison","tag-bison","tag-bison-bison","tag-bison-bull","tag-desert-island","tag-european-starling","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-hitchhiking","tag-hitching","tag-ride","tag-sturnus-vulgaris","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6522.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-163","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11030,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/23\/an-american-bison-and-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":0},"title":"An American Bison and the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I love to get images of the American Bison and the Great Salt Lake in the same frame especially if there are mountains in the background so I was happy to get the snow covered Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake in this image","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling hitching a ride on a Bison, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-shore-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6492.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-shore-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6492.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-shore-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6492.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-shore-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6492.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4597,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/06\/birds-and-bison\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":1},"title":"Birds and Bison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Certain species of birds ride on the backs of Bison and feed on the insects they find in the Bison's fur; European Starlings are among those birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of European Starlings with a Bison, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6477,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/01\/grazing-american-bison-bull\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":2},"title":"Grazing American Bison Bull","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had an opportunity to photograph this Bison bull grazing on Antelope Island State Park with the mountains of Promontory Point in the background with just a small bit of the Great Salt Lake showing too.","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 grazing in front of Promontory Point, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-promontory-point-mia-mcpherson-3253.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-promontory-point-mia-mcpherson-3253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-promontory-point-mia-mcpherson-3253.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-promontory-point-mia-mcpherson-3253.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34755,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/09\/a-constellation-of-european-starlings-and-a-bison\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":3},"title":"A Constellation of European Starlings and a Bison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the images I took that day on Antelope Island State Park had flocks of European Starlings and an American Bison or two in them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a Bison and European Starlings on Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2525.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2525.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2525.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2525.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6555,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/11\/american-bison-in-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":4},"title":"American Bison in the Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We've gotten a lot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley since Friday, I swept at least a foot of snow off my vehicle yesterday and about 3 to 4 inches on Friday, as I write this the snow is still falling.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison bulls fighting in a snow storm, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17278,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/06\/bison-birds-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":4219,"position":5},"title":"Bison And Birds On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The light and clouds looked iffy this morning but Antelope Island didn't disappoint when it came to bison and birds plus some dramatic light.","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, European Starlings and a stormy sky, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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