{"id":50701,"date":"2018-01-17T05:48:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T12:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50701"},"modified":"2025-06-27T10:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:41:16","slug":"what-to-do-when-a-snowy-egret-flyby-is-too-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/17\/what-to-do-when-a-snowy-egret-flyby-is-too-close\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do When A Snowy Egret Flyby Is Too Close – Keep Firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SnowySnowy Egret close up flyby – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was August of last year at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah and my objective was to photograph Forster’s Terns diving for fish, hovering over the water and feeding their young.<\/p>\n

It was so hot that you probably could have cooked an egg on the pavement that leads to the auto tour route at the refuge and it was so buggy that insect repellent wasn’t keeping the blood sucking mosquitoes from making me decidedly miserable but still I persisted.<\/p>\n

I’m a little crazy about photographing birds in case there is anyone who isn’t aware of that fact.<\/p>\n

I did photograph the terns diving, feeding their young and hovering and although most of the images were from too far away there were a few keepers.<\/p>\n

The terns made passes in front of me but sometimes there were periods of times when I waited 5 to 10 minutes or longer for them to fly past me and there were other birds in the area to photograph too.<\/p>\n

American White Pelicans drifting lazily on the water, slowly dipping their bills into it to capture prey in their pouches, Franklin’s and Ring-billed Gulls swooping down to snatch tiny fish, Marsh Wrens weaving in and out of the rushes and Snowy Egrets that flew in to squabble with each other over fishing territories.<\/p>\n

So when the tern action was slow I focused on the other birds because I never know what I will see them do or when I might capture a great action shot in between slapping the mosquitoes away from my exposed skin.<\/p>\n

When a couple of Snowy Egrets that had been getting their feathers ruffled over territory flew by heading east I took some photos of them in flight over the water thinking that they were flying off to different fishing grounds but then one of them suddenly banked in flight and turned to head right back towards me and it was very close.<\/p>\n

So what did I do? I kept firing as the Snowy Egret flew past me keeping my focus on the eye of the bird and that is when I took this photograph of the egret in flight.<\/p>\n

This image is full frame and just resized for web presentation. It isn’t a great composition but somehow it was sharp even though the Snowy was so close and it had flown in front of a shaded area of the water which gave me a dark background that showed off the snow white plumage of the bird so well plus a wonderful view of the yellow eye of the egret.<\/p>\n

I guess I could crop this photo to come up with a different and perhaps more pleasing composition but I thought I’d share it just like it was taken because it isn’t often I get to photograph a Snowy Egret portrait this close to me in flight.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

So what did I do? I kept firing as the Snowy Egret flew past me keeping my focus on the eye of the bird and that is when I took this photograph of the egret in flight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149529,"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":[124,27,1148,255,26],"tags":[4004,4142,743,351,4120,4052,6327,4094,4046,3988,2073,313,4095],"class_list":["post-50701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-snowy-egrets","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-close-up","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-flight","tag-flyby","tag-marsh","tag-portrait","tag-snowy-egret","tag-too-close","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-too-close-mia-mcpherson-8710.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dbL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5141,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/05\/birds-of-bear-river-mbr-snowy-egrets\/","url_meta":{"origin":50701,"position":0},"title":"Birds of Bear River MBR – Snowy Egrets","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently I spent two days in a row photographing birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) and found plenty of birds to aim my lens at.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret about to land in a marsh at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-6154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-6154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-shaking-feathers-mia-mcpherson-5469.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-shaking-feathers-mia-mcpherson-5469.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-shaking-feathers-mia-mcpherson-5469.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-shaking-feathers-mia-mcpherson-5469.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58909,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/08\/snowy-egret-in-flight-over-the-green-marsh-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":50701,"position":3},"title":"Snowy Egret In Flight Over The Green Marsh At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes the simplicity of an image is what draws me in and keeps me happily satisfied with it and that is what I enjoy about this photo of a Snowy Egret in flight over the marsh at Bear River MBR, the simplicity.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Snowy Egret in flight over the green marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/snowy-egret-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/snowy-egret-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/snowy-egret-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5491.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/snowy-egret-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5491.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40655,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/27\/adult-snowy-egret-hunting-for-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":50701,"position":4},"title":"Adult Snowy Egret Hunting for Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked the crouched position of this Snowy Egret as it was about to strike the prey it was hunting and when it struck it did capture and eat the small fish.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret about to strike prey at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-about-to-strike-mia-mcpherson-5661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-about-to-strike-mia-mcpherson-5661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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