{"id":4680,"date":"2012-03-26T04:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4680"},"modified":"2025-09-17T05:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:43:49","slug":"bald-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/26\/bald-eagles\/","title":{"rendered":"Bald Eagles In Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-156404 size-full\" title=\"Adult Bald Eagle in flight in morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Bald Eagle in flight in morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"604\" data-id=\"13315\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27604%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20604%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27604%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990-200x142.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990-400x284.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990-600x426.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990-768x546.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Adult Bald Eagle in flight in morning light &#8211; Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Normally during the month of February Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area has hundreds of Bald Eagles within its boundaries but that was not the case in February 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the unusually mild winter we had\u00a0many of the Bald Eagles that typically winter over in the Salt Lake Valley stayed in locations further north where lakes and rivers that typically freeze over had areas that were ice free.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-120569 size-full\" title=\"4 year old Bald Eagle in flight with prey\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730.jpg\" alt=\"4 year old Bald Eagle in flight with prey, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"569\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20569%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-400x268.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-600x402.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730-800x536.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-3730.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/>4 year old Bald Eagle in flight with prey &#8211; Nikon D200, f9, 1\/400, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 300mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I missed seeing dozens of the Farmington Bay Bald Eagles sitting on the ice, flying over the marshes and stands of phragmites and scooping up carp from the water this year. Last year I may have seen well over a hundred Bald Eagles on a single trip to the WMA and this year four was the highest number I counted on a trip there.<\/p>\n<p>The Bald Eagles that were in the valley have now moved\u00a0towards to their breeding grounds along with the others that stayed north of here. I wish them a successful breeding season and I look forward to seeing them this coming winter.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/bald-eagle-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Bald Eagle photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Normally during the month of February Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area has hundreds of Bald Eagles within its boundaries but that was not the case in February 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156404,"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":[151,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,846,2663,3903,3133,4432,4052,4122,2161,4152,4123,4094,4106,153,4018,2239,9461,4095,373],"class_list":["post-4680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bald-eagle","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bald-eagle","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-fish","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-four-year-old","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-landing","tag-marsh","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-sky","tag-sub-adult","tag-subadult","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-4990.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1du","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9757,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/08\/the-eagle-is-landing\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":0},"title":"The Eagle Is Landing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been quite some time since I posted a Bald Eagle here so today I present this adult in a landing pose that I photographed in February of 2011 at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing adult Bald Eagle, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-2674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-2674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-2674.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-2674.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3878,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/19\/the-bald-eagles-are-returning-to-the-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":1},"title":"The Bald Eagles are Returning to the Valley","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"During the summer months I don't often see Bald Eagles unless I go up into the high country or travel north of Utah to Idaho, Wyoming or Montana but in the Salt Lake Valley many Bald Eagles come in to spend the winter.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four year old Bald Eagle up close, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3428.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3428.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3428.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3428.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30465,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/19\/bald-eagle-landing-on-ice-in-a-fog-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":2},"title":"Bald Eagle landing on ice in a fog at Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"During the winter Farmington Bay has a large population of overwintering Bald Eagles that migrate down from northern states and Canada.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Baiting&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Baiting","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife-ethics\/baiting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bald Eagle landing on ice in a fog, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-landing-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62185,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/23\/time-for-winter-bald-eagle-photography-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":3},"title":"Time For Winter Bald Eagle Photography In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"So if you don't enjoy the craziness that can happen at Farmington Bay WMA when the Bald Eagles arrive for the winter just pick an area and go for a relaxed drive to another location.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light Bald Eagle in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3696.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3696.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3696.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/bald-eagle-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3696.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43090,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/13\/bald-eagles-are-coming-back-to-overwinter\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":4},"title":"Bald Eagles Are Coming Back To Overwinter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Twice in the past two weeks I have seen Bald Eagles, one four year old bird in flight over the marshes at Farmington Bay WMA and one juvenile perched in a tree up in Box Elder County.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Bald Eagle in flight on a cloudless sky, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1753,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/01\/06\/bald-eagle-second-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":4680,"position":5},"title":"Bald Eagle &#8211; Second Year","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a second year Bald Eagle, and while the adult birds are probably the most photographed, I enjoy photographing all ages & phases of plumage of bald eagles.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Second year Bald Eagle at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bald-eagle-2nd-year-mia-mcpherson-utah-1235.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bald-eagle-2nd-year-mia-mcpherson-utah-1235.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bald-eagle-2nd-year-mia-mcpherson-utah-1235.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bald-eagle-2nd-year-mia-mcpherson-utah-1235.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\/4680","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=4680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}