{"id":49989,"date":"2017-12-20T05:51:26","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T12:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49989"},"modified":"2025-08-20T04:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T09:33:07","slug":"great-blue-heron-in-flight-with-the-wasatch-mountains-in-the-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/20\/great-blue-heron-in-flight-with-the-wasatch-mountains-in-the-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron in Flight With The Wasatch Mountains In The Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron flying in front of the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It isn’t everyday I get to see and photograph a Great Blue Heron in flight with the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> in the background but I had that opportunity two afternoons ago at a pond close to home.<\/p>\n

I saw the heron flying in from the south and I hoped it would turn towards the pond where the light would be better and it did.<\/p>\n

The afternoon light was beautiful on both the bird and the mountains and even though the bird was further away from me than I would have liked I simply couldn’t resist taking photos of it.<\/p>\n

It seemed to be moving in slow motion which gave me time to lock on to the bird as it flew up towards the top of the willow.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron landing on a Willow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I regrettably missed six frames just before the Great Blue landed because of some unexpected movement which caused me to lose focus but I was able to very quickly lock back on to the heron and continued to photograph it as it landed on the leafless willow.<\/p>\n

Since it was late afternoon I wondered if the Great Blue Heron uses the willow to roost on during the night, one morning before sunrise I should drive down to the pond and see if it does.<\/p>\n

I doubt if it is there this morning though because the wind is howling outside due to a weather front coming in that is supposed to bring snow to the valley floor this afternoon.<\/p>\n

We’ll see, the weather forecasters here are wrong more often than they are right. If it does snow, and that is a big “if”, I hope to be able to go down to the pond and see what I can photograph with falling snow in the frame.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Great Blue Heron will show up, who knows!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It isn’t everyday I get to see and photograph a Great Blue Heron in flight with the Wasatch Mountains in the background but I had that opportunity two afternoons ago at a pond close to home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152962,"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":[27,166,709,26,773],"tags":[4117,4052,4122,3987,627,626,4123,4069,4427,313,4176,6107],"class_list":["post-49989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-blue-herons","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-landing","tag-mountains","tag-tree","tag-wading-birds","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-willow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-mountains-flight-mia-mcpherson-8332.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-d0h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":72255,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/27\/resting-great-blue-herons-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":49989,"position":0},"title":"Resting Great Blue Herons In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm actually more than a touch fascinated by the Great Blue Herons I see, observe and photograph in the higher altitudes of the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron resting in the mountains, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6319.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6319.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6319.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6319.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120230,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/29\/great-blue-herons-at-the-farmington-bay-wma-rookery\/","url_meta":{"origin":49989,"position":1},"title":"Great Blue Herons At The Farmington Bay WMA Rookery","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I was surprised to find Great Blue Herons already at the nests of the rookery at Farmington Bay WMA. There were more than twenty herons.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Herons on the rookery at Farmington Bay WMA in January, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/02\/great-blue-heron-and-mountain-goldenbanner\/","url_meta":{"origin":49989,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Heron and Mountain Goldenbanner","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I wrote about a Golden Eagle in the Wasatch Mountains. Today I am writing about \"golden\" again. Blooming Mountain Goldenbanner and a Great Blue Heron.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mountain Goldenbanner in bloom close up, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mountain-goldenbanner-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-2701.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mountain-goldenbanner-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-2701.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mountain-goldenbanner-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-2701.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4489.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4489.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52813,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/28\/are-great-blue-herons-breeding-at-higher-elevations-due-to-climate-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":49989,"position":4},"title":"Are Great Blue Herons Breeding at Higher Elevations Due to Climate Change?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm wondering now if Great Blue Herons here in Utah might already be adapting to climate change by moving higher up into the mountain valleys and canyons that have suitable food and water supplies to breed and nest.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High elevation Great Blue Heron, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-blue-heron-conifer-mia-mcpherson-0154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-blue-heron-conifer-mia-mcpherson-0154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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