{"id":59767,"date":"2019-08-28T06:01:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T12:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=59767"},"modified":"2024-07-30T04:11:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T09:11:06","slug":"an-american-mink-in-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/28\/an-american-mink-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Mink In The Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-131565 size-full\" title=\"American Mink near a creek bank\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg\" alt=\"American Mink near a creek bank, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">American Mink near a creek bank &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/160, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was excited to have been able to take a decent image of an American Mink when I found this one in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning. I&#8217;d seen a mink in the same area on a trip into the Wasatch just a few days before but the light was so low and it disappeared so quickly that I wasn&#8217;t 100% sure on my ID but when it showed up again yesterday I had no doubt as to what the critter was.<\/p>\n<p>My ISO was too low at first so I quickly changed it to 1250 to obtain a little more shutter speed but in hindsight I wish I had taken the time to change my aperture to 5.6 to gain a little more because most of the images I took of the mink running along the creek bank and swimming in the water were blurry. I&#8217;m happy enough with this low light photo though and I hope to see the mink again to try and get better photos of it.<\/p>\n<p>I also have something else that I wanted to share after seeing it yesterday&#8230; I saw some frost on a roof of a house up in the mountains and little bit more along a creek. It won&#8217;t be long before the frost and cooler temps in the mountains start the leaves of trees changing to fall colors. I looked at some of the photos I had taken in the same area last year and by the end of the first week of September I was starting to see orange, yellow and red leaves on some of the trees.<\/p>\n<p>I am truly looking forward to cooler weather and the birds that the cooler temps will bring.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-mink-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Mink photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was excited to have been able to take a decent image of an American Mink when I found this one in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131565,"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":[7593,1731,26,773],"tags":[7595,3843,7600,3983,4109,156,7598,7599,4069,2777,7594],"class_list":["post-59767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-mink","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-american-mink","tag-creek","tag-creek-bank","tag-frost","tag-grasses","tag-low-light-2","tag-mink","tag-minks","tag-mountains","tag-mustelid","tag-neovison-vison"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fxZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92295,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/16\/male-lazuli-bunting-plus-american-mink-family-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":0},"title":"Male Lazuli Bunting Plus American Mink Family Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I started my morning off yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains photographing an American Mink family that appeared on the bank of a creek.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Mink&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Mink","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-mink\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lazuli Bunting male reaching out for grass seeds, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9909.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9909.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76138,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/15\/wild-utah-mink-tests-positive-for-coronavirus\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":1},"title":"Wild Utah Mink Tests Positive For Coronavirus","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm concerned for our wild American Mink and have begun to wonder of the coronavirus could be passed to the other native mustelids here in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Badgers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Badgers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-badger\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Mink near a creek bank, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-mink-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-5302.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":91759,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/07\/one-spotted-sandpiper-that-is-no-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":2},"title":"One Spotted Sandpiper That Is No More","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I watched as the mink dashed across the shallow creek with the sandpiper in its jaws, climbed over a log, and out of my sight. That Spotted Sandpiper is no more.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Sandpiper adult foraging on a dry creek bed, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-on-dry-creek-bed-mia-mcpherson-0437.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-on-dry-creek-bed-mia-mcpherson-0437.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-on-dry-creek-bed-mia-mcpherson-0437.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spotted-sandpiper-on-dry-creek-bed-mia-mcpherson-0437.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59949,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/03\/coyote-searching-for-prey-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":3},"title":"Coyote Searching For Prey In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"If I hadn't been looking for birds I wouldn't have spotted this coyote searching for prey yesterday near a creek in a canyon which made it my best subject of the day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Coyotes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Coyotes","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/coyotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coyote looking for prey next to a creek, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/coyote-creek-hunting-mia-mcpherson-9034.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/coyote-creek-hunting-mia-mcpherson-9034.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/coyote-creek-hunting-mia-mcpherson-9034.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/coyote-creek-hunting-mia-mcpherson-9034.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104687,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/01\/wasatch-mountain-range-sandhill-crane-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":4},"title":"Wasatch Mountain Range Sandhill Crane Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent ten minutes taking Sandhill Crane images high in the Wasatch Mountain Range after finding a pair of cranes next to an alpine creek.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sandhill Crane changing direction, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sandhill-crane-stained-adult-mia-mcpherson-9634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sandhill-crane-stained-adult-mia-mcpherson-9634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sandhill-crane-stained-adult-mia-mcpherson-9634.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sandhill-crane-stained-adult-mia-mcpherson-9634.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71841,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/12\/american-robin-fledglings-exploring-their-mountain-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":59767,"position":5},"title":"American Robin Fledglings Exploring Their Mountain Home","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago I saw lots of young birds in the Wasatch Mountains east of where I live in Salt Lake City and among them were several American Robin fledglings.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling American Robin looking up at the sky, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-fledgling-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-8624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-fledgling-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-8624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-fledgling-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-8624.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-fledgling-creek-bank-mia-mcpherson-8624.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\/59767","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=59767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}