{"id":45030,"date":"2017-02-17T05:52:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T12:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45030"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:18:59","slug":"portraits-of-bison-bulls-drinking-from-an-iced-over-puddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/17\/portraits-of-bison-bulls-drinking-from-an-iced-over-puddle\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraits Of Bison Bulls Drinking From An Iced Over Puddle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Bison bull drinking water under ice – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/200, ISO 400, -1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been some time since I photographed and shared American Bison photos so three days ago when I was on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> and there were bison close to the road I decided to take a few close ups of them.<\/p>\n

These portraits of bison bulls drinking from an iced over puddle were taken with my Nikon D500, my 500mm VR lens with a teleconverter attached from inside a vehicle.<\/p>\n

When the bison bulls bent their heads down to drink from the puddle I could hear the thin ice crunch under the weight of their huge muzzles and their hooves as they walked up to it.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison bull close up while drinking water – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/320, ISO 400, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When the bison finished drinking they raised their heads and the water dribbled from their mouths and their beards. At times they were just taking a break and would resume drinking soon after raising their heads.<\/p>\n

\"Stink-eyeStink-eye from an American Bison bull – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/320, ISO 400, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I think bison can have expressive eyes, when I looked at this image I felt like the bison was giving me the old stink-eye. One of my sons used to give me a look very much like this one when I said something he didn’t like or want to hear so this photo made me laugh because it reminded me of those times.<\/p>\n

\"Crazy-eyedCrazy-eyed bison bull – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/200, ISO 400, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This bison bull looked a little crazy-eyed but it was really watching another bull that had moved towards the puddle behind where this one stood.<\/p>\n

\"BisonBison bull headshot during winter – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/250, ISO 400, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo is the same bison bull a few seconds later without the crazy-eyed look, I guess it decided the other bull wasn’t a threat. I chuckled when I saw that in both of these photos the bison had a snot bubble under its nose.<\/p>\n

The bison still have their heavy winter coats at this time of the year and they looked quite warm despite the frost on the ground and the ice on the puddle. I wasn’t as warm as they were!<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison bull drinking from an iced over puddle – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/250, ISO 400, -1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was nice to photograph the American Bison<\/span><\/a> on the island again, sometimes they are too far away to get quality images so when they are close like they were three days ago I like to take advantage of the opportunity.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Bison photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

Safety around these huge mammals is important, even though they are used to people being on the island they are wild and can be very dangerous. I would never attempt to take closeups like these from outside a vehicle<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These portraits of bison bulls drinking from an iced over puddle were taken with my Nikon D500, my 500mm VR lens with a teleconverter attached from inside a vehicle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":169205,"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":[443,511,1022,26,99],"tags":[4004,4463,745,593,890,4142,5671,11978,4464,3983,4064,4062,4046,5112,5670,373,5669],"class_list":["post-45030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-wildlife","tag-adult","tag-american-bison","tag-bison-bison","tag-bison-bull","tag-bulls","tag-close-up","tag-crazy-eyed","tag-desert-island","tag-drinking","tag-frost","tag-ice","tag-male","tag-portrait","tag-puddle","tag-stink-eye","tag-winter","tag-winter-coats"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-drinking-mia-mcpherson-6165.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bIi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6056,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/06\/bison-bull-drinking-from-a-puddle\/","url_meta":{"origin":45030,"position":0},"title":"Bison Bull Drinking From A Puddle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this American Bison bull a few days ago on Antelope Island State Park as he was drinking from a freshwater puddle formed by rains over the weekend.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison drinking water from a puddle, Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/american-bison-drinking-mia-mcpherson-4608.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/american-bison-drinking-mia-mcpherson-4608.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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was able to take a very nice series of low light American Bison bull portraits despite the lack of clear skies and sunshine on Antelope Island.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting American Bison bull close up at Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3487.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3487.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3487.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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