{"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t