{"id":56011,"date":"2019-02-10T05:53:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T12:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56011"},"modified":"2024-01-22T09:05:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:05:46","slug":"american-crows-on-ice-and-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/10\/american-crows-on-ice-and-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"American Crows On Ice And Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Crow walking on ice – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah does have some resident breeding American Crows but the large number of crows we see here in the winter have migrated here from other more northern locations. I’m always happy to see them even though I haven’t photographed them as often as I would like too and I should make an effort to change that because I love these birds. Around this time of the year American Crows can be found in large numbers at the dump in Bountiful, in the towns of Syracuse and Layton and the marshes at Farmington Bay along with other areas. Even though I am not adverse to photographing American Crows (or other birds) at the dump I must admit I prefer more natural locations.<\/p>\n

At the end of January I had a few opportunities to photograph some American Crows in nice light on snow and ice at Farmington Bay WMA. I jumped at the opportunity of course. Why wouldn’t I? As a bird photographer all<\/em> species excite me and it seems almost silly to pass them by.<\/p>\n

I noticed that the crows avoided landing directly on the ice on the west side of the road and seemed to prefer landing on the snow or vegetation near the ice before they walked out onto it. That makes sense to me because they appeared to have trouble walking on the slippery ice there and landing on it would have been far more difficult. On the east side of the road the ice has had more snow on it and is somewhat broken up so landing there doesn’t appear to be as slippery as the west side of the road in the marsh.<\/p>\n

\"CallingCalling American Crow on snow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were hundreds of crows that sunny morning and it was a challenge to be able to isolate just one of them but it was doable from a distance. The American Crows were flying in from the north, south, east and west but my flight shots were not appealing to me because the sky was discolored by our nasty inversions so I focused primarily on the crows on the ice and snow. I love how the shiny, black plumage of the crows contrasts so well from the pure, white snow and the blue of the ice in the background. This crow was calling as it walked on the snow foraging for food.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter American Crow at Farmington Bay WMA – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This crow repeatedly snapped of bits and pieces of the vegetation it was walking amongst, it may have been searching for insects or insect larvae in the stems. I wish I knew for sure but it was very interesting to observe and photograph it as it moved from stem to stem.<\/p>\n