{"id":44159,"date":"2016-12-30T05:56:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T12:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44159"},"modified":"2025-08-19T13:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:00:36","slug":"immature-great-blue-heron-in-a-snow-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/30\/immature-great-blue-heron-in-a-snow-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Great Blue Heron in a Snow Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Great Blue Heron in a Christmas Snow Storm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 640, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was snowing at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> on Christmas day so the light was low, visibility was poor and birds were difficult for me to spot at any distance.<\/p>\n

When I first saw a shape on the shoreline I couldn’t make out what it was, I couldn’t even determine if the dark shape was a bird or a creature but as we got closer I saw that it was a Great Blue Heron hunched over to fend off the cold.<\/p>\n

As I focused on the Great Blue Heron I could tell it was an immature bird braving its first winter alone in the marshes of Farmington Bay.<\/p>\n

I knew this was a young Great Blue because the rusty colored shoulder patches would be more pronounced on a mature Great Blue Heron and there wouldn’t be small buffy spots on the wing coverts on a mature bird either.<\/p>\n

Watching this heron made me think of how our birds and animals struggle to get through the harshness of winter and much like the first year Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> I also photographed on Christmas Day, I hope this young Great Blue Heron makes it through to the warmer days of spring.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

As I focused on the Great Blue Heron I could tell it was an immature bird braving its first winter alone in the marshes of Farmington Bay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,166,26],"tags":[4117,2757,3987,627,626,4067,156,4094,4050,4509,4899,313,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-44159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-blizzard","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-low-light-2","tag-marsh","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowstorm","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t