{"id":55019,"date":"2018-11-17T05:44:43","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55019"},"modified":"2025-09-02T07:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T12:06:52","slug":"mallard-hen-landing-in-the-golden-light-of-a-sunset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/17\/mallard-hen-landing-in-the-golden-light-of-a-sunset\/","title":{"rendered":"Mallard Hen Landing In The Golden Light Of A Sunset"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MallardMallard hen landing in golden light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There is something about the golden light of sunset that soothes me even when I am not photographing birds but when there are birds that feeling is amplified times ten.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t matter what species of bird but having a bird be the last living thing I see outside before the sun sets and the sky grows dark is awesome.<\/p>\n

I’m just that much of a bird nerd and bird lover, I can’t help being like that and really I don’t want to.<\/p>\n

When I have the opportunity to take photos of birds in the sweet golden light of sunset I jump at the chance even if the bird is as common as a Mallard hen landing on a pond.<\/p>\n

Why wouldn’t I?<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I have the opportunity to take photos of birds in the sweet golden light of sunset I jump at the chance even if the bird is as common as a Mallard hen landing on a pond. Why wouldn’t I? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153852,"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":[27,965,709,117,26],"tags":[4237,1129,126,4070,4254,4359,4123,1604,7951,1984,3993,2063,373],"class_list":["post-55019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-ducks","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-female","tag-golden-light","tag-hen","tag-landing","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-pond","tag-sunset","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mallard-hen-landing-sunset-mia-mcpherson-3982.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ejp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50395,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/29\/mallards-in-flight-in-golden-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":55019,"position":0},"title":"Mallards In Flight In Golden Afternoon Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Photographing the Mallards in flight in golden afternoon light was a terrific way to end my bird photography session for the evening.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Mallards in flight in afternoon light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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photographed at a pond close to where I live during the evening hours and I loved the golden light on the bird and on the water.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Duck female in evening light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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ago, the only birds I photographed were ducks. This Mallard hen floating on silky water caught my eyes.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mallard hen on silky waters, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-6429.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-6429.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-6429.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/mallard-hen-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-6429.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/28\/mallard-hen-with-duckling-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":55019,"position":5},"title":"Mallard Hen with Duckling at Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I was close I wasn't able to get a single image with all of the ducklings and the hen in the frame so I focused on the Mallard hen and with one duckling resting right behind her.","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":"Mallard hen with duckling, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.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-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mallard-hen-duckling-mia-mcpherson-9146.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\/55019","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=55019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}