{"id":4538,"date":"2012-02-26T15:42:29","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T22:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4538"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:22:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:22:51","slug":"signs-of-spring-american-avocets-and-double-crested-cormorants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/26\/signs-of-spring-american-avocets-and-double-crested-cormorants\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of Spring ~ American Avocets and Double-crested Cormorants"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a very weird winter here in Utah, there hasn’t been much snow at all in the Salt Lake Valley and temperatures\u00a0have been warmer than normal. For a few weeks it has felt like spring. This week I saw a report of butterflies already flitting around and the trees I see have buds that look like they are ready to burst open.<\/p>\n

Birds that I normally expect to photograph in the winter have been scarce,\u00a0for instance\u00a0the Bald Eagles at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area where\u00a0last year I could count hundreds on any given day in February and this year I’ve been lucky to see more than 4 at a time.<\/p>\n

So I’ve found myself wishing for the arrival of “spring birds” on more than one occasion because bird photography has been rather slow the last few weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Double-crestedDouble-crested Cormorant in Salt Lake County, Utah – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Today I went out to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> not expecting much because it has been very slow out there for bird photography lately and for the most part I was correct. But at the marina I saw some dark shapes in the sky flying very rapidly. I realized they were cormorants as soon as my lens could focus on them! My FOY (first of the year) Double-crested Cormorants! There were four of them and they were too far away to get decent images but I felt like dancing because in my mind they are “spring birds”. Hooray!<\/p>\n

\"American<\/strong>American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) in flight – Nikon D200, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Just about a mile away from the park entrance I caught sight of a bird in flight and wondered what it was. My first instinct was “American Avocet” but it seems a little early for them. But I was right on the ID and saw not just one but two of American Avocets in flying along the causeway. Wow, more “spring birds”!<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, I’m ready for the birds of spring.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

(These images were taken previously, not today)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was right on the ID and saw not just one but two of American Avocets in flying along the causeway. Wow, more “spring birds”!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155077,"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":[451,144,697,709,26],"tags":[1634,5828,5350,5548,5200,149,851,4052,4173,4177,3973,274,165,1283,8018,30,5123],"class_list":["post-4538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-avocets","category-double-crested-cormorant","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-american-avocet","tag-avocet","tag-avocets","tag-cormorant","tag-cormorants","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-farmington-bay-waterfowl-management-area","tag-flight","tag-nannopterum-auritus","tag-recurvirostra-americana","tag-salt-lake-county","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring","tag-swimming","tag-urban","tag-utah-2","tag-waterbirds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-avocet-flight-mia-mcpherson-5906.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1bc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":122167,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/28\/flock-of-american-avocets-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":4538,"position":0},"title":"Flock Of American Avocets At Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Farmington Bay WMA, I was delighted to have a resting flock of American Avocets in my viewfinder. 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McPherson","date":"November 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the American Avocets have migrated away from northern Utah but most years we can have a few stragglers that haven't migrated by this time of the year","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stretching American Avocet in non-breeding plumage, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/american-avocet-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-2138.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-avocet-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-2138.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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