{"id":50736,"date":"2018-01-21T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-21T12:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50736"},"modified":"2025-09-02T06:58:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:58:46","slug":"snowy-high-key-mallard-drake-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/21\/snowy-high-key-mallard-drake-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy High Key Mallard Drake Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HighHigh key Mallard drake portrait – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I enjoyed all the snow we got here in the Salt Lake Valley Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday. It might be the<\/em> one big snowfall we get this winter so I took advantage of that and visited the local ponds several times throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Although the light wasn’t great I still took quite a few images of the ducks, geese, coots, and gulls I found there.<\/p>\n

My favorite image of the day was this high key Mallard drake portrait that was taken in the late afternoon which was the only time I could see the sun behind the clouds the whole day.<\/p>\n

The duck had gotten out of the pond and waddled up onto the shore and I might not have photographed him but I noticed that he had a mound of snow behind him and that the iridescent green plumage on his head seemed to glow against the stark white background.<\/p>\n

How could I resist photographing him? As you can see I didn’t. I love that I can see the cold looking, winter sun in the eye of this bird.<\/p>\n

Mallards are pretty abundant throughout the U.S. and there are people who wouldn’t have raised their lens to photograph this bird simply because of that.<\/p>\n

Sure, it would have been wonderful to have a less “common” bird as a subject under the same circumstances and lighting conditions, a Redhead duck would have been fabulous, or a drake Common Merganser or the even more colorful drake Wood Duck but I photograph birds, all birds, and try to do take the best photo I can with the subject I have in front of me.<\/p>\n

Even the most “common” birds can be uncommonly<\/em> beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy trees and the Jordan River<\/span><\/p>\n

It felt like I would be remiss if I didn’t include at least one photo of a snowy scene that I saw yesterday so I wanted to include this picture that I took using my cell phone of the snow-covered trees along the Jordan River.<\/p>\n

The snow sure was gorgeous.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

My favorite image of the day was this high key Mallard drake portrait that was taken in the late afternoon which was the only time I could see the sun behind the clouds the whole day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153847,"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":[27,965,709,26],"tags":[4237,211,4483,1129,126,1123,4062,1604,10698,1984,4046,4050,4328,8018,2063,16369,373],"class_list":["post-50736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-background","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-high-key-2","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-willow-pond-park","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dck","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62432,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/06\/low-light-drake-mallard-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":0},"title":"Low Light Drake Mallard Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of the low light and snowy conditions on the first day of the year I did not take many photos of the birds that I saw but I did get a few mallard images that I liked.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light portrait of a Mallard drake resting in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-portrait-low-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-8677.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37408,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/25\/mallard-drake-portrait-salt-lake-county-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":1},"title":"Mallard Drake Portrait Salt Lake County, Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I was able to take a Mallard drake portrait of one of the ducks that were close and loved how this showed the blue green iridescence.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mallard Drake portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3612.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3612.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3612.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3612.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/14\/male-mallard-resting-in-snow-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":2},"title":"Male Mallard Resting In Snow – Connections","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I visited my local ponds yesterday even though the sky was gray, and snow was falling. While I was there, I photographed this male Mallard resting in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mallard watching me photographing him, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-snow-mia-mcpherson-2390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-snow-mia-mcpherson-2390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-snow-mia-mcpherson-2390.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mallard-drake-snow-mia-mcpherson-2390.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109334,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/05\/dapper-mallard-drake-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":3},"title":"Dapper Mallard Drake In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After I photographed the handsome Gadwall drake that I shared yesterday I couldn't resist taking images of this alert and dapper Mallard drake in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dapper Mallard drake in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/mallard-drake-dapper-snow-mia-mcpherson-7562.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/09\/calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":4},"title":"Calling Mallard Drake In The City","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn't resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Mallard drake on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mallard-drake-open-bill-mia-mcphersonn-2002.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/24\/landing-drake-mallard\/","url_meta":{"origin":50736,"position":5},"title":"Landing Drake Mallard","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't often have the opportunity of taking photos of ducks that are flying straight at me while coming in for a landing which is exactly what this drake mallard did.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mallard drake in landing pose, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-9861.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-9861.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-9861.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-9861.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\/50736","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=50736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}