{"id":55353,"date":"2018-12-20T05:31:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T12:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55353"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:51:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:51:33","slug":"flying-canada-goose-with-the-snow-covered-wasatch-mountains-in-the-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/20\/flying-canada-goose-with-the-snow-covered-wasatch-mountains-in-the-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying Canada Goose With The Snow Covered Wasatch Mountains In The Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CanadaCanada Goose flying past the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When photographing birds what is in the background can make or break an image. If the background is distracting it draws the viewer’s eye away from the main subject but if it is pleasing it can highlight the subject.<\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon I was able to get away from my desk for a few minutes and went down to my local pond. There were some clouds over the mountains and some clouds to the west that threatened to block out the light.<\/p>\n

But while I was there the light was good and there were few flocks of Canada Geese both on the water and on the shore next to the pond.<\/p>\n

By watching the behavior of the geese I could tell when groups of them were ready to take flight because they extend their necks, call and move their heads back and forth before taking to the air.<\/p>\n

When I see that behavior I know to watch the geese for possible flight images so when a small group of them took off I was ready.<\/p>\n

The light was best when the geese flew in front of the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> which is when I photographed this flying Canada Goose with its wings above its body.<\/p>\n

At first glance the snow and shadows on the mountains might look like clouds in the sky but the sky is actually only visible at the top portion of this frame.<\/p>\n

The goose is a little centered for my tastes but there was another goose in front of this one that although it was in focus part of its body was out of the frame so I cropped this image to remove it.<\/p>\n

\"SunlightSunlight on a snow covered Wasatch Mountain peak – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

So what was behind the Canada Goose? Mountain views like this one.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the exact peak the goose flew in front of but I felt like including it just to give an idea of what the goose above flew past while I photographed it.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Canada Goose photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

By the way, we typically have much more snow on the mountains by this time of the year, there are spots that are bare in this image that normally wouldn’t be. I hope we get some real winter snow soon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The light was best when the geese flew in front of the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains which is when I photographed this flying Canada Goose with its wings above its body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121003,"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":[27,28,709,26,773],"tags":[32,4343,4101,5181,6909,4052,4122,4775,4069,6910,4677,4050,6326,8018,4176,2063,373],"class_list":["post-55353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-canada-geese","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-canada-goose","tag-clouds","tag-conifers","tag-firs","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-goose","tag-mountains","tag-peaks","tag-shadows","tag-snow","tag-sunlight","tag-urban","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-wasatch-mountains-a-glow-mia-mcpherson-5431.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eoN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95882,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/06\/flying-canada-goose-with-snow-covered-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":55353,"position":0},"title":"Flying Canada Goose With Snow Covered Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last evening when I walked outside to move my Jeep into the driveway I glanced towards the east to view the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying Canada Goose and the snow covered Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/canada-goose-snowy-wasatch-range-mia-mcpherson-4602.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/canada-goose-snowy-wasatch-range-mia-mcpherson-4602.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/canada-goose-snowy-wasatch-range-mia-mcpherson-4602.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/canada-goose-snowy-wasatch-range-mia-mcpherson-4602.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55622,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/11\/lone-canada-goose-flying-in-front-of-the-snow-covered-wasatch-mountain-range\/","url_meta":{"origin":55353,"position":1},"title":"Lone Canada Goose Flying In Front Of The Snow Covered Wasatch Mountain Range","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In the case of this photo of a lone Canada Goose flying in front of the snowy Wasatch Mountains I took the photo because I liked how nicely lit the goose was in contrast to the darker, snow and cloud covered mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lone Canada Goose Flying in front of snowy Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-flight-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5047.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-goose-flight-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-flight-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-flight-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63163,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/23\/canada-goose-on-the-wing-and-the-snowy-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":55353,"position":2},"title":"Canada Goose On The Wing And The Snowy Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've grown to love and appreciate the mountain views I have here in Utah. When I can take photographs that combine my passion for birds with mountains in them I am one very happy woman.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Canada Goose on the wing on a January afternoon, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-4596.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-goose-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-4596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-4596.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-4596.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76259,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/18\/canada-geese-on-the-wing-in-front-of-the-snowy-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":55353,"position":3},"title":"Canada Geese On The Wing In Front Of The Snowy Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I love to photograph birds on the wing. It doesn't matter if my subject is as small as a hummingbird, as large as an eagle, as slow as a gliding pelican, or as fast as a stooping falcon as long as it is a bird.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Canada Geese on the wing, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5427.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-snow-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5427.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-snow-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5427.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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