{"id":55202,"date":"2018-12-03T05:31:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T12:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55202"},"modified":"2025-10-09T16:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T21:39:41","slug":"american-coots-canada-geese-in-a-winter-snow-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/03\/american-coots-canada-geese-in-a-winter-snow-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"American Coots & Canada Geese In A Winter Snow Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Coots in a snow storm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 800, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The first decent amount of snow fell in the Salt Lake Valley and it continued throughout the day yesterday. It didn’t snow hard but it snowed steadily and before I went to sleep last night there was just a little over five inches on the ground.<\/p>\n

The light stayed low all day long but I just had to visit the local pond while the snow was falling because, you know, birds in falling snow are a favorite of mine.<\/p>\n

There weren’t all that many species but they included Mallards, Ring-billed and California Gulls, a few drake Redheads, one male Belted Kingfisher, two Northern Flickers, European Starlings, Pied-billed Grebes, Canada Geese, and American Coots.<\/p>\n

It seemed that while I was at the pond the snow started to fall harder so visibility was low and I took a few long distance images of the birds on the pond.<\/p>\n

There were several American Coots hunkered down next to a point of the shoreline with one coot moving away that caught my eyes because of the snow-covered cattails, falling snowflakes and the dark forms of the coots against all the white snow.<\/p>\n

\"CanadaCanada Geese in a winter snow storm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 800, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And on the other side of the pond I could make out some resting Canada Geese on another point of the shoreline with a few geese on the water.\u00a0 The American Coots and Canada Geese deal with icy cold water, freezing temps, and snow during the winters here and they all seem to do fine.<\/p>\n

Neither of these images will knock anyone’s socks off but for me they show these coots and geese in the snow storm and the harsh conditions they live in, just birds being birds.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t appear to be snowing here at home this morning but there are clouds overhead. I may just have to go to the pond again today and see what birds this storm may have brought in.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Neither of these images will knock anyone’s socks off but for me they show these coots and geese in the snow storm and the harsh conditions they live in, just birds being birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121051,"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":[137,27,28,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,32,4774,4366,2772,2773,768,4121,713,4775,1984,4050,4509,8018,2063,373],"class_list":["post-55202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-canada-geese","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-coot","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-canada-geese","tag-cattails","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-falling-snow","tag-fulica-americana","tag-geese","tag-goose","tag-pond","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-2314.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-emm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118542,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/25\/canada-geese-in-falling-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":55202,"position":0},"title":"Canada Geese In Falling Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I desperately needed a bird break so I went down to my local pond. While I was there I photographed Canada Geese and American Coots in falling snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canada Geese and American Coots in falling snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/canada-geese-snow-fall-mia-mcpherson-8595.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Heron With American Coots At The Local Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo of a resting Great Blue Heron with American Coots was taken yesterday afternoon when the sun was shining on the same shoreline of my local pond as one of the photos I shared here on my blog yesterday.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting Great Blue Heron with American Coots, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-american-coots-pond-mia-mcpherson-2389.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108709,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/13\/december-snow-storm-plus-an-american-coot\/","url_meta":{"origin":55202,"position":3},"title":"December Snow Storm Plus An American Coot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, after I cleared the snow off of my Jeep for the first time, I drove down to my neighborhood pond in a December snow storm to enjoy the snow.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Coot in a December snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/salt-lake-county-december-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-0444.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/salt-lake-county-december-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-0444.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/salt-lake-county-december-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-0444.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/salt-lake-county-december-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-0444.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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