{"id":43835,"date":"2016-12-09T06:15:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T13:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=43835"},"modified":"2025-10-08T08:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T13:40:42","slug":"winter-american-coots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/09\/winter-american-coots\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter American Coots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Coot head turn – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Rain, snow, low light, clouds and cold temps have found their way to the Salt Lake Valley and the forecast looks pretty dreary for the next week.<\/p>\n

The mountains look whiter than they have since last winter and that is a good thing because the snow pack means water in the reservoirs when spring run off comes.<\/p>\n

During the winter I can often head down the hill to a local pond and actually get out on foot and photograph birds on the pond with my camera mounted on a tripod.<\/p>\n

I’ve been having an issue with the swing arm knob on Jobu my Gimbal head not locking down tight which has concerned me. Since it was still covered under the warranty the good people at Jobu Design<\/span><\/a> have sent me a new swing arm replacement which should arrive today just in time for photographing the winter birds like these coots close to home.<\/p>\n

I don’t use my tripod much but when I do I want to know the tripod head is functioning properly since my gear is attached to it and the gear is pricey.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot vertical close up – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 235mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Photographing American Coots is a challenge because I want my exposure set bright enough so I can capture fine details in their dark plumage without being so bright that their white bills are too light and blown out.<\/p>\n

At the pond near where I live I can practice exposing the coots properly to my hearts content because there are plenty of them now and there will be until the pond freezes completely over.<\/p>\n

I should be able to test out the new swing arm on my gimbal head on the coots and ducks at the pond when there is enough light.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot in multi-colored reflections – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Winter is a great time to photograph these American Coots<\/span><\/a> close to home because they seem more approachable plus the water picks up wonderful reflections from the snow on the ground at the edge of the pond.<\/p>\n

When there are breaks in the clouds and a bit of blue sky overhead this winter I’ll be heading down to the pond to photograph them and the other birds I find.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my American Coot photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

P.S.: I finally fixed the issue where some people in Utah on Comcast could not get to my site or could not see the images and only saw text, it was the server firewall that was blocking one of the CloudFlare servers that covers the area Utah is in.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photographing American Coots is a challenge because I want my exposure set bright enough so I can capture fine details in their dark plumage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159468,"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":[137,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,970,2772,2773,4620,4121,5545,4036,10698,1984,5546,4783,8018],"class_list":["post-43835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-coot","tag-autumn","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fall","tag-fulica-americana","tag-jobu-gimbal-head","tag-low-angle","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-swing-arm","tag-tripod","tag-urban"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-winter-mia-mcpherson-8008.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bp1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6718,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/06\/three-years-ago-today-when-it-was-actually-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":43835,"position":0},"title":"Three Years Ago Today When It Was Actually Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Three years ago today though the ground was covered in drifts of snow, the temps were below freezing, there was ice on the ponds & lakes and there was a sharp briskness to the air that can only be found in winter.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-billed Gull on the edge of ice in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.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-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4247,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/29\/american-coots-birds-to-rail-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":43835,"position":1},"title":"American Coots – Birds To Rail About","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"American Coots are the most widely distributed members of the Rail family in North America and are very abundant in habitats with open water.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Coot standing on bronze colored ice and water, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-golden-ice-mia-mcpherson-1112.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-golden-ice-mia-mcpherson-1112.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-golden-ice-mia-mcpherson-1112.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-golden-ice-mia-mcpherson-1112.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6313,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/10\/american-coots-on-thin-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":43835,"position":2},"title":"American Coots on Thin Ice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The temps are dropping here in the Salt Lake Valley, two days ago it was below freezing when we went out shooting. Winter brings challenges and birds we don't see during the summer so I am excited about that.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Coot on slippery ice, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-1068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-1068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-1068.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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