{"id":43143,"date":"2016-11-18T05:55:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T12:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=43143"},"modified":"2021-12-11T07:35:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T14:35:02","slug":"california-gull-hovering-over-the-bear-river-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/18\/california-gull-hovering-over-the-bear-river-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"California Gull Hovering Over The Bear River in Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-134731 size-full\" title=\"Winter California Gull hovering over the Bear River\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg\" alt=\"Winter California Gull hovering over the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder 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\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Winter California Gull hovering over the Bear River &#8211; Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/8000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A few weeks ago I posted some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/31\/ring-billed-gulls-at-bear-river-mbr\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ring-billed<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/01\/herring-gulls-in-northern-utah\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Herring Gull<\/span><\/a> photos taken at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in January of this year and I decided to share another gull image that I took that same day, photos of the state bird of Utah.<\/p>\n<p>California Gulls are year round residents here in northern Utah and have been credited, whether true or not, with saving the Mormon Pioneers by eating grasshoppers that were decimating their crops which is how a bird with the name of another state became Utah&#8217;s state bird.<\/p>\n<p>I photographed this California Gull hovering over the Bear River with the snow covered Promontory Mountains in the back ground while it looked for prey in the open water below.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t have as much light in the eye as I normally would like to have but I think the position of the wings and the fine feather details make up for that quite well. I really don&#8217;t know how people could dislike these beautiful birds.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/california-gull-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my California Gull photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I photographed this California Gull hovering over the Bear River with the snow covered Promontory Mountains in the back ground while it looked for prey in the open water below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134731,"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":[124,27,1148,520,26],"tags":[4004,4529,4333,4052,4122,3539,521,4174,4230,4094,4246,4528,4050,4093,4095,373],"class_list":["post-43143","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-california-gulls","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bear-river","tag-california-gull","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-hovering-2","tag-larus-californicus","tag-marsh","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-snow","tag-snow-covered","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bdR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35198,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/03\/a-winter-california-gull-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":0},"title":"Winter California Gull at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Ring-billed and California Gulls are the typical gulls I find in Utah so it wasn't much of a surprise to find this California Gull at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"Flight of a California Gull in winter at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-winter-mia-mcpherosn-8730.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-winter-mia-mcpherosn-8730.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-winter-mia-mcpherosn-8730.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/california-gull-flight-winter-mia-mcpherosn-8730.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42938,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/01\/herring-gulls-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":1},"title":"American Herring Gulls in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We do see Herring Gulls in northern Utah during the winter and I was able to photograph this one as it circled over the water with the snow-covered Promontory Mountains and sky behind it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Herring Gulls&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Herring Gull flying over Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107838,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/08\/winter-california-and-herring-gull-comparison-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":2},"title":"Winter California And American Herring Gull Comparison In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Herring Gulls&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herring Gull - California Gull Comparison and ID Features, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34695,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/03\/ring-billed-gull-in-flight-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":3},"title":"Ring-billed Gull in Flight at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Ring-billed Gull in flight at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on New Year's Day on the west side of the auto tour loop.","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":"Flying Ring-billed Gull and snow covered mountains in the background. Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-promontory-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2610.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-promontory-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2610.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-promontory-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2610.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-promontory-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2610.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42921,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/31\/ring-billed-gulls-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":4},"title":"Ring-billed Gulls at Bear River MBR &#038; How the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Saved Them","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There were at least 50 Ring-billed Gulls at Bear River MBR diving into the open water looking for fish that winter morning which gave me plenty of chances to photograph them.","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":"Hovering Ring-billed Gull in winter, Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ring-billed-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8696.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ring-billed-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8696.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ring-billed-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8696.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ring-billed-gull-flight-mia-mcpherson-8696.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63498,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/29\/photographing-a-herring-gull-in-thick-fog-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":43143,"position":5},"title":"Photographing An American Herring Gull In Thick Fog At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"After reviewing the images I took of the gull at home on a larger screen I was happy to see that it was a Herring Gull, gulls we only see in the winter here.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Herring Gulls&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Herring Gull in thick fog, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-in-heavy-fog-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-in-heavy-fog-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-in-heavy-fog-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-in-heavy-fog-mia-mcpherson-5990.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\/43143","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=43143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}