{"id":62073,"date":"2019-12-15T06:07:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T13:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62073"},"modified":"2025-08-20T06:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:19:14","slug":"great-blue-heron-in-winter-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/15\/great-blue-heron-in-winter-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron In Winter Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter Great Blue Heron and its shadow \u2013 Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 280mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There isn’t any snow on the ground here at home this morning but in previous winters there has been thick blankets of the white stuff covering the ground by this time of the year.<\/p>\n

During the winter I look forward to photographing birds in the snow because it can be a blank, white canvas that shows off the beauty of the birds I am so passionate about.<\/p>\n

The sun is low on the horizon at this time of the year which means I can photograph birds longer in the morning and start photographing them earlier in the afternoon without the light being too bright and contrasty.<\/p>\n

On one winter in 2013 I went to Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> in the afternoon instead of the early morning because at dawn heavy clouds blocked out the sun but when those clouds dissipated I had an itch to get out and see if I could find some birds.<\/p>\n

On that bright winter afternoon one of my best avian subjects was this Great Blue Heron standing in water with a bank of fresh, white snow behind it. After this photo was taken I took a wonderful series of the heron lifting off and flying low just barely above the creek that I shared here<\/span><\/a> on my blog. I didn’t share many photos of the Great Blue Heron while is was stationary so I decided to share one of those today.<\/p>\n

The Great Blue Herons here are year round residents and during the winter when the water freezes over it can be hard on them because they can’t easily get to the fish, crustaceans and amphibians below the ice but these big wading birds switch over to stalking small mammals like voles and mice in the marshes during that time. These birds are tough.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

On that bright winter afternoon one of my best avian subjects was this Great Blue Heron standing in water with a bank of fresh, white snow behind it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153004,"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":[27,1022,697,166,26],"tags":[4004,4117,3843,3987,627,626,4094,1994,4050,4535,313,3996,4095,373],"class_list":["post-62073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-creek","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-marsh","tag-shadow","tag-snow","tag-snow-bank","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-winter-snow-creek-mia-mcpherson-9320.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-g9b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110398,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/20\/great-blue-heron-on-ice-small-in-frame\/","url_meta":{"origin":62073,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron On Ice – Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had the opportunity to photograph a Great Blue Heron on the ice at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, where the heron was small in the frame.","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":"Great Blue Heron and its winter shadow - Small in frame, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If you want to take Great Blue Heron photos in winter, on snow and ice, then head to Bear River MBR in Utah after the marsh freezes and the snow starts to fall.","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":"Fluffed up Great Blue Heron walking on ice, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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