{"id":44677,"date":"2017-01-31T05:42:30","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T12:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44677"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:44:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:44:44","slug":"portraits-of-ring-billed-gulls-in-a-snow-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/31\/portraits-of-ring-billed-gulls-in-a-snow-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraits of Ring-billed Gulls in a Snow Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SnowSnow falling on a Ring-billed Gull- Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 1000, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten days ago I spent 40 minutes photographing gulls, ducks and geese in a snow storm<\/span><\/a> at a pond near where I live and had fun while I was doing it.<\/p>\n

The snowflakes landed on my face, hands and a few even landed on my eyelashes which made it hard to see at times as the snow blew in through the open window.<\/p>\n

The neoprene coat on my lens got wet, my camera body got damp and I think it was a good thing I had a paper towel to soak up the snow that melted on my gear.<\/p>\n

My polar fleece jacket was soaked and my jeans were too from sitting with the window open for 40 minutes, thankfully my fleece under layers kept me warm the whole time.<\/p>\n

There were big, clumpy, wet fluffy snowflakes falling which is what I had hoped for because they show up better in images than smaller flakes do.<\/p>\n

I thought the image above was interesting because one of those large clumps of stuck-together snowflakes landed on this Ring-billed Gull’s head then it bounced up and crumbled and I was able to capture the snowflakes breaking apart in this close up.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Ring-billed Gull portrait- Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 1000, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

People call gulls “garbage birds” and “flying rats” but I have never been able to wrap my head around their reasons for not liking them and I sure can’t understand why people would hate them.<\/p>\n

They are beautiful whether they are photographed under bright sunny skies, on a sandy beach, in a foggy lagoon or in the midst of a snow storm.<\/p>\n

I’m glad I took these portraits of Ring-billed Gulls in a snow storm, they will remind me of a gray, cold, stormy January day when I was just crazy enough to sit and photograph birds as snowflakes fell from the sky.<\/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":"

I’m glad I took these portraits of Ring-billed Gulls in a snow storm, they will remind me of a gray, cold, stormy January day when I was just crazy enough to sit and photograph birds as snowflakes fell from the sky. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,410,709,26],"tags":[4142,521,4264,4046,4468,4050,4509,4900,373],"class_list":["post-44677","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-close-up","tag-gulls","tag-larus-delawarensis","tag-portrait","tag-ring-billed-gull","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowflakes","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6682.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bCB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47548,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/03\/preening-ring-billed-gull-in-a-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":44677,"position":0},"title":"Preening Ring-billed Gull in a Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this preening Ring-billed Gull in a snow storm in January of this year at a pond near where I live and it was pretty chilly that day.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-billed Gull preening in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ring-billed-gull-preening-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ring-billed-gull-preening-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This portrait of a head on Ring-billed Gull in a snow storm was taken 364 days ago at a local pond near home and I liked it because the gull looks a touch grumpy.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Head on Ring-billed Gull in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6560.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-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6560.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 with snow on its bill, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-snow-bill-mia-mcpherson-9192.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-snow-bill-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-snow-bill-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-snow-bill-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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