{"id":62406,"date":"2020-01-04T05:54:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-04T12:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62406"},"modified":"2023-09-28T06:49:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T12:49:14","slug":"some-days-in-the-field-are-mostly-for-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/04\/some-days-in-the-field-are-mostly-for-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Days In The Field Are Mostly For Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter West Desert mountain view<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I didn’t press my DSLR’s shutter button a single time while I was out in the field so I came home without a single photo of a bird or animal but I did come home with something else. Knowledge.<\/p>\n

There are days when I feel that trips out into the field are mostly for learning about my subjects, their behaviors, and how I can find them. Yesterday I learned that if I had gone into another area first instead of second I might have gotten some wonderful photos of Wild Turkeys in the snow.<\/p>\n

The first area I went to yesterday morning has been good to me in the past during the winter though so it is<\/em> worth going there to check it out. I’ve seen Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, Red-tailed Hawks, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, Mountain Bluebirds and more there during the coldest times of the year. I’ve also had really slow days there as far as birds go too.<\/p>\n

Yesterday that first location was practically devoid of birds. I saw a few magpies flying and calling the distance, a few sparrows that dove into the shrubs faster than I could say “birds” and a couple of larks flying next to the road that never stopped long enough to get them in my viewfinder. The time I spent looking for birds in the first location was fruitless.<\/p>\n

The second area I went to yesterday morning to look for birds actually surprised me because of all the signs I saw of birds thanks to the layer of snow covering the ground. I saw tracks in the snow practically everywhere I looked. Some of the tracks were from animals and some were from birds.<\/p>\n

As I checked out the tracks in the snow I realized that most of the turkey tracks I saw were crisp, had hard edges and they were fresh. They were also all over the place. I quickly realized, and learned, that if I had gone to the second location first chances are that I might have gotten photos of the turkeys feeding in the snow.<\/p>\n

Or maybe I wouldn’t have seen them at all. I can’t say for sure<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I do know this though, the next time I head out that way I will more than likely head to the second location first because of the large number of turkey tracks that I saw.<\/p>\n

I came home with four cell phone photos of the snowy mountain views and a bit of new knowledge.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more West Desert views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I didn’t press my DSLR’s shutter button a single time while I was out in the field so I came home without a single photo of a bird or animal but I did come home with something else. Knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62405,"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":[27,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[195,4101,1124,4674,8230,4069,4289,4057,4018,4050,8231],"class_list":["post-62406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-canyons","tag-clouds","tag-field","tag-junipers","tag-learning","tag-mountains","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-sagebrush","tag-sky","tag-snow","tag-turkey-tracks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/stansbury-mountains-winter-snow-mia-mcpherson_083416.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gey","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/14\/snow-dusted-views-of-utahs-west-desert-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":62406,"position":0},"title":"Snow Dusted Views Of Utah’s West Desert Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw snow on Utah's West Desert mountains for the first time since late spring so I thought I'd share a few views of what I saw while out there yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Tooele County"","block_context":{"text":"Tooele County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/tooele-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dusting of snow on Utah's West Desert mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50787,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/29\/snow-covered-deseret-peak-and-the-stansbury-mountain-range\/","url_meta":{"origin":62406,"position":1},"title":"Snow-covered Deseret Peak and the Stansbury Mountain Range","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My only keeper images of the morning were a few photos I took of the Stansbury Mountain Range and Deseret Peak and even those weren't that great but I loved seeing the snow-covered mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Stansbury Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snow-covered Deseret Peak in the Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/deseret-peak-stansbury-mountains-snow-mia-mcpherson-8560-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/deseret-peak-stansbury-mountains-snow-mia-mcpherson-8560-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/deseret-peak-stansbury-mountains-snow-mia-mcpherson-8560-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/deseret-peak-stansbury-mountains-snow-mia-mcpherson-8560-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55313,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/16\/winter-ferruginous-hawk-lift-off-and-flight-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":62406,"position":2},"title":"Winter Ferruginous Hawk Lift Off And Flight Series","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was able to photograph two Ferruginous Hawks yesterday morning in the West Desert in Tooele County. The light was good, I had birds in my viewfinder and I was away from our building inversion so I was one happy woman.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ferruginous Hawk in flight in front of snow covered mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4731.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/horned-lark-male-snow-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/horned-lark-male-snow-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/horned-lark-male-snow-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/horned-lark-male-snow-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96080,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/10\/october-west-desert-views-of-clouds-mountains-and-the-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":62406,"position":4},"title":"October West Desert Views Of Clouds, Mountains, And The Moon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I wanted to share these photos of some West Desert views of clouds, mountains, and the moon because I'd like to be out there seeing and photographing them all.","rel":"","context":"In "Stansbury Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"October West Desert view, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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