{"id":55856,"date":"2019-01-29T05:48:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T12:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55856"},"modified":"2025-09-25T13:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T18:39:10","slug":"white-faced-ibis-overwintering-in-the-marshes-of-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/29\/white-faced-ibis-overwintering-in-the-marshes-of-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"White-faced Ibis Overwintering In The Marshes Of Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"White-facedWhite-faced Ibis in a frozen marsh – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When the clouds cleared out yesterday morning there were birds to be found and today I am focusing my daily post on the White-faced Ibis that overwinter in the marshes of Farmington Bay WMA that I photographed there yesterday.<\/p>\n

I don’t see the ibis every time I go to Farmington Bay during the winter so when I do it is a treat, yesterday morning I saw over a dozen of them that were within range of being photographed from the shoulder of the road.<\/p>\n

The light was beautiful and it showed because the iridescent plumage of the White-faced Ibis positively glowed.<\/p>\n

\"OverwinteringOverwintering White-faced Ibis in flight – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a noisy air boat nearby that caused some of the ibis to take flight and I took advantage of that by photographing the ibis as they flew by. This ibis flew past with the sky in the background…<\/p>\n

\"White-facedWhite-faced Ibis in flight over a frozen marsh – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And then dropped down so I had the frozen marsh in the frame behind the ibis. There is still some snow on the ground from the last storm and that contrasted with the dried vegetation nicely.<\/p>\n

\"White-facedWhite-faced Ibis landing in icy water – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This may or may not be the same bird that is in the two photos above, I’m not 100% certain. The White-faced Ibis was using its wings to slow itself down before its toes touched the water. I really like how this image shows the marshy habitat as well as the ibis landing because it gives a sense of “place”.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo overwintering White-faced Ibis at Farmington Bay – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time I had taken this image the noisy air boat had flushed most of the White-faced Ibises but that allowed me to take this photo of a pair of them where it shows they were both standing on one leg close together without other out of focus birds nearby. One of the ibis looked on as the other preened.<\/p>\n

I mentioned in a recent post that Great Blue Herons that stay here in northern Utah are tough birds<\/span><\/a> and they truly are because they can withstand our bitter cold winter temps and I wanted to mention that these overwintering ibis are pretty tough too.<\/p>\n

Most of the White-faced Ibis that breed here in the summer left for warmer climates long ago.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When the clouds cleared out yesterday morning there were birds to be found and today I am focusing my daily post on the White-faced Ibis that overwinter in the marshes of Farmington Bay WMA that I photographed there yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158032,"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":[27,1022,697,26,120,1372],"tags":[4052,4122,6947,3721,5148,4064,4123,4094,6946,2139,1373,4019,4050,313,4095,4340,373],"class_list":["post-55856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","category-wading-birds","category-white-faced-ibises","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-frozen-marsh","tag-ibis","tag-ibises","tag-ice","tag-landing","tag-marsh","tag-overwintering","tag-pair","tag-plegadis-chihi1","tag-preening-2","tag-snow","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands","tag-white-faced-ibis","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-winter-landing-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ewU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":99158,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/22\/white-faced-ibis-resting-on-a-frozen-marsh\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":0},"title":"White-faced Ibis Resting On A Frozen Marsh","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Farmington Bay WMA earlier this month I found a small flock of overwintering White-faced Ibis that were too far away to photograph.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis resting on a frozen marsh, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/white-faced-ibis-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/white-faced-ibis-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/white-faced-ibis-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7965.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/white-faced-ibis-frozen-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7965.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/08\/white-faced-ibis-do-overwinter-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":1},"title":"White-faced Ibis Do Overwinter At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On New Year's Day, I photographed two small flocks of White-faced Ibis at Bear River MBR. It isn't unusual at all for this ibis species to overwinter at the refuge.","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":"Winter White-faced Ibis at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/white-faced-ibis-winter-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-0632.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108361,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/29\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-in-a-wetland\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":2},"title":"White-faced Ibis Foraging In A Wetland","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Although much of the water there had iced over, I was tickled to find this White-faced Ibis foraging in the wetlands of Farmington Bay WMA last week.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-faced Ibis foraging in wetlands, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-mia-mcpherson-4860.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-mia-mcpherson-4860.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-mia-mcpherson-4860.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/white-faced-ibis-foraging-mia-mcpherson-4860.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4669,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/22\/white-faced-ibis-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":3},"title":"White-faced Ibis in flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"White-faced Ibises (Plegadis chihi) breed and nest in the freshwater marshes around the Great Salt Lake. Generally they migrate south for the winter though this winter there were a few that stayed at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis in flight at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-6868.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-6868.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-6868.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-6868.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/16\/glowing-white-faced-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":4},"title":"Glowing White-faced Ibis","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took a photos of a White-faced Ibis glowing in the morning light at Farmington Bay on Monday. This is why I am out and photographing so early in the morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis with its feathers aglow, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/white-faced-ibis-glowing-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/white-faced-ibis-glowing-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/white-faced-ibis-glowing-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/white-faced-ibis-glowing-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106919,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/06\/fall-immature-white-faced-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":55856,"position":5},"title":"Fall Immature White-faced Ibis","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't anticipate seeing many birds when I arrived in Farmington Bay early yesterday morning. I was tickled to photograph this immature White-faced Ibis.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature White-faced Ibis eating breakfast, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-faced-ibis-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-8355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-faced-ibis-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-8355.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-faced-ibis-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-8355.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-faced-ibis-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-8355.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\/55856","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=55856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}