{"id":55176,"date":"2018-11-30T06:04:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T13:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55176"},"modified":"2025-06-22T19:10:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T00:10:26","slug":"low-light-california-gull-in-flight-during-a-snow-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/30\/low-light-california-gull-in-flight-during-a-snow-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Light California Gull In Flight During A Snow Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CaliforniaCalifornia Gull in flight during a snow storm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 2500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been a lot of gray days for me here lately in northern Utah, yesterday morning the fog was super thick, there has been rain falling in the valley and snow has been falling in the mountains and that is good because we need the moisture here especially the snow in the mountains since that snow will help to fill our reservoirs which were horribly low earlier in the fall.<\/p>\n

These low light, gray days though aren’t always the best for most bird photography but give me a good snow storm and I truly enjoy being out taking photos of birds when the snow is flying. It is more challenging to photograph birds during a snow storm than it is when I have golden light plus it can be wet, cold, and miserable but I like to challenge my skills and I adore having falling snow in my images. Besides that, if the birds can tough out the weather, so can I.<\/p>\n

There were a few days last winter when the light was low plus the snow was falling when I couldn’t resist going down to the local pond to check out what birds were there and to see if I could photograph any of them. I see California Gulls here year round but they do seem to congregate in higher numbers at the pond when it is colder as long as the pond hasn’t completely iced over and it was warm enough last year that the pond never did freeze except along the shoreline.<\/p>\n

During the winter I have opportunities to photograph California Gulls in flight in snow storms in low light and while images like this one aren’t appealing to everyone’s tastes I like them a lot. Part of the reason is the challenge but photos like this one remind me that the birds are there no matter what the weather conditions are and that I can be out there with them too.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

During the winter I have opportunities to photograph California Gulls in flight in snow storms in low light and while images like this one aren’t appealing to everyone’s tastes I like them a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149250,"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":[27,520,187,709,26],"tags":[4333,4052,2813,3539,521,4230,156,1984,4050,4509,8018,373],"class_list":["post-55176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-california-gulls","category-gulls","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-california-gull","tag-flight","tag-gray-day","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-larus-californicus","tag-low-light-2","tag-pond","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-snow-storm-flight-mia-mcpherson-6257.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-elW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49939,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/17\/ring-billed-gulls-flying-in-a-december-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":55176,"position":0},"title":"Ring-billed Gulls Flying in a December Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The light wasn't great when I photographed these Ring-billed Gulls flying in a December snow storm but I had a great time with the gulls and the rest of the birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Ring-billed Gull flying in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108946,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/22\/cloudy-and-gray-winter-solstice\/","url_meta":{"origin":55176,"position":1},"title":"Cloudy And Gray Winter Solstice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My Winter Solstice was cloudy and gray. I wandered down to my local pond to take in my first day of winter views of the Wasatch Mountains plus a few birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cloudy and gray Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/wasatch-range-winter-solstice-mia-mcpherson-6440.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/wasatch-range-winter-solstice-mia-mcpherson-6440.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/wasatch-range-winter-solstice-mia-mcpherson-6440.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/wasatch-range-winter-solstice-mia-mcpherson-6440.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/27\/california-gull-blur-in-a-snow-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":55176,"position":2},"title":"California Gull Blur in a Snow Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This California Gull blur in a snow storm was one of those blurs that happened because of slow shutter speeds and low light but I found that I liked the resulting photo and will call it a happy accident.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"California Gull blur, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-blur-snow-mia-mcpherson-9282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-blur-snow-mia-mcpherson-9282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-blur-snow-mia-mcpherson-9282.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/california-gull-blur-snow-mia-mcpherson-9282.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62602,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/13\/winter-ring-billed-gulls-from-low-light-to-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":55176,"position":3},"title":"Winter Ring-billed Gulls – From Low Light To Afternoon Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't say that I prefer one of these Ring-billed Gull images over the other, the low light image is as appealing to me as the one I took in afternoon light. I enjoy them both.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Ring-billed Gull eating snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ring-billed-gull-drinking-snow-mia-mcpherson-1871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ring-billed-gull-drinking-snow-mia-mcpherson-1871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ring-billed-gull-drinking-snow-mia-mcpherson-1871.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ring-billed-gull-drinking-snow-mia-mcpherson-1871.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"November 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I actually like photographing birds in a snow storm because the low light situations test my skills, the limits of my gear and the resulting photos often have a moody feeling to them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-billed Gulls in a snow storm fighting over a crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ring-billed-gulls-food-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-5849.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ring-billed-gulls-food-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-5849.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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