{"id":44199,"date":"2017-01-02T05:50:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T12:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44199"},"modified":"2023-08-03T07:21:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T13:21:04","slug":"raccoon-on-ice-at-farmington-bay-on-new-years-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/02\/raccoon-on-ice-at-farmington-bay-on-new-years-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Raccoon on Ice at Farmington Bay on New Years Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RaccoonRaccoon on ice – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 1000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, we made it through the holidays! I can remember as a child I hated for the holidays to be over because it meant going back to school and not having days off to play in the snow or spend all day reading a good book but as an adult I get sick of the holiday hubbub right around the time the grocery store starts playing Christmas music.<\/p>\n

I did get out to photograph on the first day of the New Year, twice in fact, once at Farmington Bay WMA and once at the local pond. Going to Farmington Bay was probably a tad crazy because it was cloudy, there was heavy fog, low light and some stuff falling from the sky that I suspect was frozen particles of the pollution in the sickening inversion smothering<\/del> hanging over the valley but lets all pretend it was just plain old snow and not minute particulate droppings of “People-B-Gone” (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury) lest we offend someone on Capitol Hill.\u00a0 Wouldn’t want to get their garments in a knot, because you know busine$$ and the pay a CEO gets is more important than the citizens breathing clean air and all that.<\/p>\n

Sorry, back to something more pleasant.<\/h2>\n

I did see birds at Farmington Bay but my favorite sighting of the day wasn’t wearing feathers, it was sporting fur and a burglar’s mask. While photographing a Great Blue Heron at the first bridge I spotted a dark shape running, slipping and sliding on the snow-covered ice and could see that it was a Raccoon. I don’t see Raccoons here in northern Utah very often so I ignored the American Pipit on the post (Gasp! I know, what is wrong with me?) and focused on the Raccoon trying to run on slippery ice as the lyrics of “Slip Slidin’ Away<\/em>” started going through my mind. I’m trying to hold my lens steady on the noodle on the window to get sharp shots but I had started to laugh out loud by this point watching the Raccoon’s feet slipping out from under it repeatedly through my view finder.<\/p>\n

Before you think I am cruel because I laughed please realize that raccoons don’t have far to fall, their legs are short and the thick fur they have protects them from these slips and falls because it is a bit like a hairy bubble wrap suit.<\/p>\n

We might all need a bubble wrap suit before the end of January, right? I’ll take mine without the fur. Allergies you know, some brought on by that crap in the air we call an inversion.<\/p>\n

The raccoon didn’t come in close because a harrier flew by and that sent it scurrying back into the marsh.<\/p>\n

So, I got a few sharp images of the Raccoon doing its best to stay on four feet and I laughed. Starting the New Year with laughter? Good medicine and I needed it.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

While photographing a Great Blue Heron at the first bridge I spotted a dark shape running, slipping and sliding on the snow-covered ice and could see that it was a Raccoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114963,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1022,697,1351,26],"tags":[4004,14244,90,4064,771,4094,4336,1352,11061,4148,5493,5585,4050,4095,373],"class_list":["post-44199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-raccoons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bubble-wrap","tag-humor-2","tag-ice","tag-inversion","tag-marsh","tag-procyon-lotor","tag-raccoon","tag-raccoons","tag-running","tag-sliding","tag-slipping","tag-snow","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-ice-snow-mia-mcpherson-0056.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-buT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16034,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/04\/young-raccoon-on-a-duckweed-mat\/","url_meta":{"origin":44199,"position":0},"title":"Young Raccoon On A Duckweed Mat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This young Raccoon looks as grumpy as I feel this morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area"","block_context":{"text":"Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/farmington-bay-wma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Raccoon on a Duckweed mat, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-young-mia-mcpherson-1231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-young-mia-mcpherson-1231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-young-mia-mcpherson-1231.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Herons are year round residents at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area here in northern Utah which means they deal with bitter cold, snow covered ground and icy water.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron lifting off from icy water, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-3661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-3661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-3661.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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But that isn't how it is in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Raccoon on the mudflats, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-utah-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-utah-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/raccoon-utah-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44199","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=44199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}