{"id":4775,"date":"2012-04-12T05:28:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T11:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4775"},"modified":"2025-06-22T05:09:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T10:09:03","slug":"springtime-california-gull-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/12\/springtime-california-gull-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Springtime California Gull Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpringtimeSpringtime California Gull portrait – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/4000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 258mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday while I was out photographing Long-billed Curlews this California Gull flew in so close that all I could do was take portraits of the bird. After a long holiday weekend and the abundance of campers on Antelope Island State Park I’m fairly certain the bird was looking for a hand out. I could see other gulls scouring the campsites for any scraps of food left behind.<\/p>\n

I like the out of focus, tiny pink wildflowers, Redstem Filaree, that are currently blanketing the grasslands of the island showing in the background, the snowy white plumage of the gull, the bits of oolitic sand on the bird’s bill and the brilliant colors of the gape, orbital ring and bill. I also rather enjoy being able to see the reflection of the fluffy clouds in the sky in the upper quadrant of the gull’s dark eye.<\/p>\n

You’d think that Utah would have selected a different species for the State Bird given that the name of this species is the California<\/em> Gull. I’ve written about why the California Gull was picked for the Utah State Bird here<\/a><\/span>, it is an interesting albeit made up story.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Oh, the Biting Gnats (no-see-ums) are back and bit me up yesterday. Grumble, grumble. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday while I was out photographing Long-billed Curlews this California Gull (Larus californicus) flew in so close that all I could do was take portraits of the bird. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149088,"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":[511,27,520,1022,322,26,5347],"tags":[4004,4053,4333,4142,11978,3539,521,4143,4230,4046,2208,165,526,4307],"class_list":["post-4775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-california-gulls","category-davis-county-utah","category-portraits","category-utah","category-wildflowers","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-california-gull","tag-close-up","tag-desert-island","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-head-shot","tag-larus-californicus","tag-portrait","tag-redstem-filaree","tag-spring","tag-utah-state-bird","tag-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3365.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1f1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":99085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/19\/three-california-gulls-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":4775,"position":0},"title":"Three California Gull Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While taking a short break yesterday morning I went down to my local pond for a few minutes and took a few California Gull photos while I was there.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"California Gull going into breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/california-gull-going-into-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-0797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/california-gull-going-into-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-0797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portrait of a California Gull calling in spring, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/california-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-2671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/california-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-2671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/california-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-2671.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/california-gull-calling-mia-mcpherson-2671.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-adult-mia-mcpherson-9359.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-adult-mia-mcpherson-9359.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-adult-mia-mcpherson-9359.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-adult-mia-mcpherson-9359.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50769,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/25\/salt-lake-county-winter-california-gull-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":4775,"position":3},"title":"Salt Lake County Winter California Gull Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago this California Gull flew in and was so close to me that I felt I had to take portraits of it because the gull looked so handsome against the blue of the water.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter California Gull portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-7252.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-7252.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-close-up-mia-mcpherson-7252.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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I especially like being able to see them up close when the opportunities arise and will take advantage of my close proximity by taking portraits of these beautiful but often disliked birds.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peaceful Laughing Gull portrait, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laughing-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5874.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\/4775","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=4775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}