{"id":44611,"date":"2017-01-27T06:16:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44611"},"modified":"2025-05-19T05:30:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:30:38","slug":"drake-gadwall-flapping-his-wings-on-a-winter-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/27\/drake-gadwall-flapping-his-wings-on-a-winter-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Gadwall Flapping His Wings on a Winter Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakeDrake Gadwall flapping his wings – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurray! I was able to get outside and down to the local ponds to photograph for a bit yesterday when the sun tried to break through the clouds. I was getting a bad case of cabin fever and was worried that I was going to forget how to photograph birds after nearly a week of cruddy weather. Well, not really worried but it did feel good to focus on some birds and take a few images. Except for the wild and domestic mallards, a few coots and gulls there wasn’t anything very interesting to photograph at the pond closest to where I live but at one slightly further away there were some Gadwalls on a pond right next to the Jordan River.<\/p>\n

Several of the Gadwalls were tipping their heads under the water to feed when this drake Gadwall started to flap his wings before settling back down on the water. This happened so quickly that my first two images were blurry but after I acquired focus I was able to get several images of the drake flapping his wings. This was my favorite of those photos.<\/p>\n

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

Drake Gadwalls aren’t as flashy or as colorful as some male ducks but I think they have an understated beauty to their appearance. The image above shows a drake Gadwall photographed in his breeding plumage in December of 2009 at one of the local ponds, I wanted to include this side view of a drake Gadwall because it shows the intricate patterns of his plumage, his velvety black rump and the silver and peachy colored feathery plumes on his back. They are dapper looking ducks.<\/p>\n

Even though I see Gadwalls practically all year long here in northern Utah I don’t have many images of them partly because they most always seem to be just out of the reach of my lens so I get a bit excited when they are close enough to photograph and that usually occurs during the winter, like it did yesterday.<\/p>\n

I feel better having fired off a few shots and that may help me get through the next few days of freezing fog, our nasty inversion and cloudy skies.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Several of the Gadwalls were tipping their heads under the water to feed when this drake started to flap his wings before settling back down on the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144990,"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":[27,963,758,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,4717,4483,1129,126,607,10576,4062,971,10698,1984,8018,2063,3200,373],"class_list":["post-44611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-gadwalls","category-jordan-river-trail","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-gadwall","tag-gadwalls","tag-male","tag-mareca-strepera","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-wing-flapping","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-wing-flap-mia-mcpherson-7798.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bBx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75000,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/30\/drake-gadwalls-are-elegant-dabbling-ducks\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":0},"title":"Drake Gadwalls Are Elegant Dabbling Ducks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't have nearly enough Gadwall photos in my portfolios and I honestly don't know why that is the case since they are year round residents here in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Gadwall resting on a pond, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-in-pond-mia-mcpherson-0200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-in-pond-mia-mcpherson-0200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-in-pond-mia-mcpherson-0200.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-in-pond-mia-mcpherson-0200.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55793,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/24\/wintertime-drake-gadwall-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":1},"title":"Wintertime Drake Gadwall Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm glad this Gadwall drake came in close so I could take a few photos of him before I turned my attention back to the pair of Hooded Mergansers.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Gadwall close up, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1987.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1987.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":127409,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/10\/gadwall-in-multicolored-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":2},"title":"Gadwall In Multicolored Reflections","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This Gadwall photo from last spring is the photo I decided to share this morning. It was taken at my local pond where the multicolored reflections appeal to me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Gadwall in multicolored reflections, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/gadwall-multicolored-reflections-mia-mcpherson-2664.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/gadwall-multicolored-reflections-mia-mcpherson-2664.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/gadwall-multicolored-reflections-mia-mcpherson-2664.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/gadwall-multicolored-reflections-mia-mcpherson-2664.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109303,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/04\/gadwall-drake-resting-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":3},"title":"Gadwall Drake Resting In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing photos of a Gadwall drake resting in snow plus a bonus photo of the leucistic American Coot taken yesterday in afternoon light.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gadwall drake resting in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/gadwall-drake-resting-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-7570.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/gadwall-drake-resting-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-7570.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/gadwall-drake-resting-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-7570.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/gadwall-drake-resting-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-7570.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":126007,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/26\/drake-gadwall-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":4},"title":"Drake Gadwall At Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, I was delighted to have this drake Gadwall in my viewfinder on the last leg of the auto tour loop.","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":"Drake Gadwall at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-marsh-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0997.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-marsh-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0997.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-marsh-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0997.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gadwall-drake-marsh-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0997.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101987,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/30\/spring-gadwall-drake-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":44611,"position":5},"title":"Spring Gadwall Drake Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing two simple Gadwall drake photos that I took last spring from the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"Displaying Gadwall drake in a marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/gadwall-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0745.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/gadwall-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0745.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/gadwall-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0745.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/gadwall-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0745.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\/44611","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=44611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}