{"id":49375,"date":"2017-11-10T06:19:02","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T13:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49375"},"modified":"2026-02-23T12:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:27:43","slug":"birds-and-beasts-in-a-november-2012-snow-storm-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/10\/birds-and-beasts-in-a-november-2012-snow-storm-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds and Beasts in a November 2012 Snow Storm on Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Snow-coveredSnow-covered American Bison trudging through snow – Nikon D200, f5.6, 1\/1000, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 65mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2012 we had snow in October and by the time the 10th of November rolled around we had had plenty of the snow in the Salt Lake Valley and a snow storm rolled through that day.<\/p>\n

On the 9th of November I scraped a foot of snow off of my Jeep and on the morning of the 10th I had to scrape more off just to be able to back out of the drive way.<\/p>\n

Even though there were gray skies and a heavy snow falling that morning had me headed to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> to see if I could find birds and beasts to photograph in a blizzard.<\/p>\n

There weren’t many other people on the island and in some places there was virgin snow to drive through. With the windows down it was silent except for the tires crunching through the thick blanket of white stuff on the ground.<\/p>\n

I saw American Bison fighting in a snow storm that morning and other bison had a shield of snow around their muzzles where they had pushed their noses through the snow to get to the grasses buried beneath it.<\/p>\n

There was a break in the clouds to the west when I photographed this bison bull and I could actually see the Great Salt Lake and snow-covered mountains in the distance.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk in a November blizzard – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 1600, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The break in the clouds was just a small sucker hole because the rest of the morning I didn’t see any more sunlight break through them.<\/p>\n

I did find a disgruntled looking immature Red-tailed Hawk towards the south end of the island perched in some of the Russian Olive trees.<\/p>\n

It isn’t a great photo by any means but I took it because I wanted to show the harsh conditions the birds and beasts have to survive in during winter in the Great Basin.<\/p>\n

It is hard to see the falling snow in this photo because there was a fog behind the hawk but you can see flakes of snow in front of the young raptors plumage.<\/p>\n

\"CoyoteCoyote hunting in a November snow storm – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 1600, +2.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Spotting a Coyote hunting is always fun and it can be even more fun when photographing them during a blizzard. This Coyote had a snow-covered back, face and tail when I photographed it while it hunted for prey in the tall grasses and when it stopped and looked towards me I had to take this photo.<\/p>\n

I remember thinking that I wished I had a thick coat of fur while I sat with the window down and the bitter cold air making me shiver while I photographed the Coyote.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison herd in a November blizzard – Nikon D200, f5.6, 1\/640, ISO 400, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the south end of the island I had to stop and photograph a small herd of American Bison as the snow fell heavily on them. Winter can be hard on them but the bison are tough and they manage to get through until the warmth of spring causes new spring growth.<\/p>\n

As I sit here this morning writing this I think about how in the past few years how the snow doesn’t start falling in the valley until the end of November or even in December.<\/p>\n

Sure there is snow up in the high country already but the snow down here seems to fall later and later each year. For some that might be cause to celebrate but for me it reminds me that we are already seeing the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n

There is overwhelming evidence and scientific proof that we are having hotter summers, less rain, later snows, worsened wildfire seasons, crazy weather patterns, lowered levels in the Great Salt Lake, and less water running through the rivers that feed it.<\/p>\n

Today I wonder what will it be like five years from now.<\/p>\n

The birds and beasts on Antelope can survive the harsh winters here but as each years passes I wonder how they will be able to adapt to our changing climate. I can’t help but be concerned not just for the birds and beasts on the island but every living being on the planet.<\/p>\n

Sorry to be a downer today.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos and here<\/span><\/a> for mammals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The birds and beasts on Antelope can survive the harsh winters here but as each years passes I wonder how they will be able to adapt to our changing climate. I can’t help but be concerned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167216,"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":[443,511,27,100,1022,449,26],"tags":[4463,2663,745,2757,4350,4314,4170,733,3462,4002,1446,4005,4169,887,153,5201,4209,4050,1963,4328,373],"class_list":["post-49375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-coyotes","category-davis-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-american-bison","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bison-bison","tag-blizzard","tag-buffalo","tag-bull","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-canis-latrans","tag-climate-change","tag-coyote","tag-great-basin","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-hawks","tag-herd","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail-hawk","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-snow","tag-snow-covered-2","tag-snowy","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-blizzard-mia-mcpherson-7522.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cQn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46120,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/10\/my-first-of-year-swainsons-hawk-and-april-snow-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":49375,"position":0},"title":"My First of Year Swainson’s Hawk and April Snow on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My best find of the day was my first of the year Swainson's Hawk about two thirds of the way down the island perched in some trees near a freshwater spring.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First of Year Swainson's Hawk with snowy mountains in the background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6555,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/11\/american-bison-in-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":49375,"position":1},"title":"American Bison in the Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We've gotten a lot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley since Friday, I swept at least a foot of snow off my vehicle yesterday and about 3 to 4 inches on Friday, as I write this the snow is still falling.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison bulls fighting in a snow storm, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/bison-fighting-bulls-mia-mcpherson-2-3355.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6965,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/30\/600th-post-an-antelope-island-snow-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":49375,"position":2},"title":"600th post – An Antelope Island Snow Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to share a few images taken two days ago when Antelope Island was covered with a fresh snow fall. The entire island looked glorious and the sunlight caused the snow to sparkle much to my delight.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrows on a snow-covered bush on Antelope Island State Park with the icy Great Salt Lake in the background.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrows-snow-mia-mcpherson-6184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrows-snow-mia-mcpherson-6184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrows-snow-mia-mcpherson-6184.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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