{"id":54291,"date":"2018-09-25T05:01:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T11:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54291"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T16:37:59","slug":"snowy-egrets-in-flight-on-a-september-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/25\/snowy-egrets-in-flight-on-a-september-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Egrets in Flight On A September Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-149535 size-full\" title=\"Snowy Egret in flight on a clear September morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy Egret in flight on a clear September morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis 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\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6511.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Snowy Egret in flight on a clear September morning &#8211;\u00a0 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 800, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It has been a while since I photographed Snowy Egrets so having them in my viewfinder yesterday morning was a real treat especially since they will be migrating soon and I will go the winter without seeing them. The Snowy Egrets I photographed in Florida were year round residents but the ones that breed are here in Utah are not.<\/p>\n<p>The two Snowy Egret photos I am sharing today show both birds in flight with one of them flying towards the west and one flying towards the east not long after the sun came over the tops of the mountains. In both photos the heads of the egrets are well lit with their wings fully extended in flight.<\/p>\n<p>In this first photo the Snowy Egret was flying towards the west and the shadow of the wings fell on the lower portion of the egret&#8217;s belly, I decreased my exposure by one full stop to reduce the chance of blown out whites on the dorsal side of the wings which worked out quite well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-149538 size-full\" title=\"Snowy Egret in flight on a late September morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy Egret in flight on a late September morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis 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\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Snowy Egret in flight on a late September morning &#8211;\u00a0 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this second Snowy Egret photo the egret was flying towards the east and at the time I didn&#8217;t feel that I needed to decrease my exposure at all and it too worked out quite nicely. In this photo the shadows fell on the egret&#8217;s legs and feet with some shadows on the dorsal side of the egret&#8217;s wings.<\/p>\n<p>The darkness in the background of both images added a nice contrast and a touch of drama too.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m happy that I was able to spend time photographing these Snowy Egrets yesterday morning before they head south for the winter.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/snowy-egret-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Snowy Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been a while since I photographed Snowy Egrets so having them in my viewfinder yesterday morning was a real treat especially since they will be migrating soon and I will go the winter without seeing them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149538,"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":[27,1022,697,255,26],"tags":[4004,743,351,4120,4052,4122,4094,530,4099,3988,313,4095],"class_list":["post-54291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-snowy-egrets","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-marsh","tag-migration","tag-morning-light","tag-snowy-egret","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e7F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116268,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/26\/snowy-egret-in-marsh-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":0},"title":"Snowy Egret In Marsh Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the first birds I photographed this autumn was this fluffed-up Snowy Egret glowing in a natural spotlight in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in morning light at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9784,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/12\/snowy-egret-with-muddy-legs\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":1},"title":"Snowy Egret with muddy legs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This adult Snowy Egret with muddy legs that were so dirty it covered up its \"Golden Slippers\".","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret with muddy legs at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-utah-mia-mcpherson-8000.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-utah-mia-mcpherson-8000.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-utah-mia-mcpherson-8000.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-utah-mia-mcpherson-8000.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51645,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/14\/snowy-egrets-have-migrated-back-to-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":2},"title":"Snowy Egrets Have Migrated Back To Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I lived in Florida I saw Snowy Egrets year round and that kind of spoiled me but here in Utah they leave for the winter and come back to the marshes and wetlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake for their breeding season.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Snowy Egret in flight over Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/snowy-egret-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/snowy-egret-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/snowy-egret-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8004.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/snowy-egret-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8004.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":141331,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/09\/snowy-egret-photos-plus-a-poop-shot\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":3},"title":"Snowy Egret Photos Plus A Poop Shot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing three Snowy Egret photos\u2014two because I like them, and the last one because it makes me laugh out loud.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret looking snazzy, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.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-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106258,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/15\/late-summer-snowy-egret-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":4},"title":"Late Summer Snowy Egret Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Monday I focused on taking Snowy Egret images after taking photos of a Virginia Rail and Lesser Yellowlegs at a near empty pond At Farmington Bay.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up adult Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5141,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/05\/birds-of-bear-river-mbr-snowy-egrets\/","url_meta":{"origin":54291,"position":5},"title":"Birds of Bear River MBR &#8211; 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 &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-6154.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-6154.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\/54291","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=54291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}