{"id":44240,"date":"2017-01-05T06:25:41","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T13:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44240"},"modified":"2025-02-04T12:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T18:35:51","slug":"ring-billed-gulls-bathing-on-new-years-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/05\/ring-billed-gulls-bathing-on-new-years-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Ring-billed Gulls Bathing on New Year’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull bathing in an icy pond – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I mentioned in my Raccoon on ice<\/span><\/a> and my\u00a0Mallard hen caught in a Ring-billed Gull feeding frenzy<\/span><\/a> posts that I went out to photograph twice on New Year’s Day, first at Farmington Bay WMA in poor light and then later at a local pond when the light was much better. While I was at my local pond there were hundreds of California and Ring-billed Gulls, though the Ring-billed out numbered the California Gulls by far.<\/p>\n

The Ring-billed Gulls up close to me were bathing frequently so I focused on them for a bit to catch them splashing and dipping their heads and bodies into the water.<\/p>\n

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull bathing in winter – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It seemed that when one of the Ring-billed Gulls would start bathing that quite a few of the others that were in the water nearby would start to bathe too. It was challenging to be able to isolate one of the bathing gulls from all the others at times. I was glad there was bright light because that gave me fast enough shutter speeds to freeze the action of the gulls and the splashing water too.<\/p>\n

To my eyes the water in these first two photos almost looks like ice.<\/p>\n

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull bathing on New Year’s Day – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The gulls would dip their heads deep into the water and when they brought their heads back up some of the water would flow down their backs.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Ring-billed Gull bathing – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were adult and immature Ring-billed Gulls bathing and I tried to get photos of both so that I could compare their plumage variations later at home. This gull hatched last breeding season and is going through its first winter.<\/p>\n

\"BathingBathing Ring-billed Gull in winter – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo just made me laugh because the gull is in the same pose that I have seen in domestic show pigeons in many times only the gull is on the water not on land.<\/p>\n

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull splashing during bathing – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took hundreds of images of the Ring-billed Gulls bathing in the icy water on New Year’s Day and while my fingers were numb with cold these hardy gulls didn’t seem to mind the cold water one bit, in fact they appeared to be invigorated by the frigid water.<\/p>\n

It was fun and entertaining to photograph these beautiful gulls and a wonderful way to bring in the new year too.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The Ring-billed Gulls up close to me were bathing frequently so I focused on them for a bit to catch them splashing and dipping their heads and bodies into the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139234,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,410,709,26],"tags":[4004,4373,3539,521,6241,5587,5588,4067,4264,1984,4468,2688,8018,3996,373,5480],"class_list":["post-44240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ring-billed-gulls","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bathing","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-icy","tag-icy-pond","tag-icy-water","tag-immature","tag-larus-delawarensis","tag-pond","tag-ring-billed-gull","tag-splashing","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter","tag-winter-plumage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ring-billed-gull-bathing-mia-mcpherson-0417.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bvy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/16\/ring-billed-gull-drinking-water-from-an-icy-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":44240,"position":0},"title":"Focusing On A Ring-billed Gull Drinking Water From An Icy Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I removed the \"Just A\" from the title for this post and added \"Focusing On A\" instead. 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McPherson","date":"January 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was just as excited to take Ring-billed Gull images as I was to take photos of a delightful Horned Grebe on the marsh at Bear River MBR.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Ring-billed Gull looking down at icy water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/ring-billed-gull-winter-ice-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/ring-billed-gull-winter-ice-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-billed Gull immediately after bathing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-farmington-mia-mcpherson-2616.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-farmington-mia-mcpherson-2616.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-farmington-mia-mcpherson-2616.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-farmington-mia-mcpherson-2616.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at my local pond three days ago, I was happy to photograph this California Gull in winter plumage that had just landed on the water.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult California Gull in winter plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/california-gull-winter-plumage-mia-mpherson-8918.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/california-gull-winter-plumage-mia-mpherson-8918.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/california-gull-winter-plumage-mia-mpherson-8918.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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