{"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t