{"id":53287,"date":"2018-07-30T05:44:49","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T11:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=53287"},"modified":"2023-12-17T06:29:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T13:29:33","slug":"drake-redhead-photos-taken-in-different-lighting-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/30\/drake-redhead-photos-taken-in-different-lighting-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Redhead Photos Taken in Different Lighting Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Smoky conditions here in the Salt Lake Valley have kept me from being out in the field lately, I&#8217;ve found that my images look a bit funky when there is this much smoke especially if I am photographing birds in flight so there are mornings where I find it hard to get motivated to go out and look for birds knowing that I most likely will not be happy or satisfied with the quality of my images.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, it gets depressing knowing how many fires there are out here in the West and that we aren&#8217;t even close to the end of the wildfire season. So I dug up two images taken this past winter to share today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-119122 size-full\" title=\"Drake Redhead on a snowy January morning\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942.jpg\" alt=\"Drake Redhead on a snowy January morning, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-snow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5942.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Drake Redhead on a snowy January morning &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/250, ISO 1250, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This past winter I photographed the birds at the local pond quite often because they were close and abundant at times. It didn&#8217;t matter what the weather was like because I didn&#8217;t have far to go and I could be home warming back up within just a few minutes so there were days when the temps were cold, when the snow was blowing and when the lighting conditions were less than optimal for bird photography. However; I enjoy the images I take in those kind of conditions because they show how well the birds cope with what the weather throws at them. This Redhead drake didn&#8217;t seem bothered at all by the blowing snow, wind or cold, he simply faced it head on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-119123 size-full\" title=\"Drake Redhead on a clear February afternoon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194.jpg\" alt=\"Drake Redhead on a clear February afternoon, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Drake Redhead on a clear February afternoon &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are of course clear winter days here when I can take photos of the birds at the local pond in beautiful afternoon light and I enjoy the images I take of the birds in good lighting conditions too.\u00a0 The birds certainly seem more lively and animated when the weather is better. This Redhead drake was flapping its wings, preening and splashing on the water when I photographed it on a sunny afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>I enjoy viewing the image of the drake Redhead on the snowy January morning just as much as the drake Redhead photo on a clear February afternoon, they both show the ducks doing what ducks do no matter what the weather is doing.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/redhead-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Redhead photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I enjoy viewing the image of the drake Redhead on the snowy January morning just as much as the drake Redhead photo on a clear February afternoon, they both show the ducks doing what ducks do no matter what the weather is doing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,2460,709,26],"tags":[4004,6676,2461,6675,4753,4483,1129,126,156,4062,4378,1984,4560,4050,4328,8018,2063,373],"class_list":["post-53287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-redheads","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-afternoon","tag-aythya-americana","tag-clear","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-low-light-2","tag-male","tag-morning","tag-pond","tag-redhead","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-3194.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dRt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107795,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/07\/redhead-ducks-at-my-local-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":0},"title":"Redhead Ducks At My Local Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I took a brief walk at my local pond and was thrilled to see a small flock of Redhead ducks resting together on the surface of the pond.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redhead drake flapping his wings on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44528,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/22\/gulls-ducks-and-geese-in-a-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":1},"title":"Gulls, Ducks, and Geese in a Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent about 40 minutes photographing the gulls, ducks and geese in the snow storm here in northern Utah yesterday and had a lot of fun doing it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canada Geese in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-flight-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7222.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-flight-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7222.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-flight-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7222.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-flight-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7222.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49425,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/14\/winter-redhead-drakes-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":2},"title":"Winter Redhead Drakes in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Redhead drakes are more colorful than the hens and I always enjoy having them in my viewfinder because of their cinnamon colored heads, their bright orange eyes and their tri-colored bills.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a drake Redhead, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50736,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/21\/snowy-high-key-mallard-drake-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":3},"title":"Snowy High Key Mallard Drake Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key Mallard drake portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.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-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-drake-high-key-mia-mcpherson-6219.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62769,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/16\/photographing-winter-redheads-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Winter Redheads in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I watched and photographed the Redhead drakes exhibiting Kinked-neck and Head-throw displays but once again they were too far away to get the high quality images I am seeking.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redhead drakes and hens gathering on a pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-hens-and-drakes-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-3473.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-hens-and-drakes-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-3473.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-hens-and-drakes-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-3473.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-hens-and-drakes-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-3473.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14314,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/11\/redhead-drake-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":53287,"position":5},"title":"Redhead drake portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The sun came out for a few hours yesterday afternoon so I went to a pond near where I live and photographed some of the ducks including this very confiding Redhead drake.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redhead drake portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-duck-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-duck-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-duck-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9081.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-duck-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9081.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\/53287","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=53287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}