{"id":65932,"date":"2020-03-01T05:38:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T12:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=65932"},"modified":"2025-08-20T06:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:34:20","slug":"winter-great-blue-heron-on-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/01\/winter-great-blue-heron-on-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Great Blue Heron On Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron on an icy pond – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

We have had some wacky weather in northern Utah the past week but that is what late winter is like here. One day can feel like spring is just around the corner because of warm temps and sunshine and the next day there might be falling snow. That can even happen within the same 24 hour period. Or even less than 12 hours.<\/p>\n

\"Wacky

Wacky weather – End of February and beginning of March 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

What that means for me as a bird photographer is that one day a pond might be covered with ice and a day or so later the water can be partially or completely open.<\/p>\n

We just had two days where the temps were in the 60’s which is quite warm here for this time of the year and today snow is supposed to fall. The ground is warm so the snow probably won’t stick, for long anyway.<\/p>\n

Last week I was able to photograph a Great Blue Heron standing on an icy pond at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a>. The large heron flew in while I was photographing an immature Black-crowned Night Heron in the vegetation at the edge of the pond.<\/p>\n

This may have been my last chance this winter to photograph a Great Blue Heron on ice so I am glad I took photos of it as it landed and cautiously walked around on the ice.<\/p>\n

The Great Blue Herons are already working on building and rebuilding their nests at the rookery at Farmington Bay and I suppose it won’t be long before they lay their eggs and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the herons have already laid them.<\/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":"

This may have been my last chance this winter to photograph a Great Blue Heron on ice so I am glad I took photos of it as it landed and cautiously walked around on the ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153007,"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":[4004,4117,5795,3987,627,626,4064,6241,4094,780,3976,4998,1984,4050,953,313,9092,4095,373],"class_list":["post-65932","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-cold","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-ice","tag-icy","tag-marsh","tag-nest-building","tag-nesting","tag-nests","tag-pond","tag-snow","tag-standing","tag-wading-birds","tag-warm","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-3302.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-h9q","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":65932,"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, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119530,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/05\/winter-great-blue-heron-on-thin-bear-river-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":65932,"position":1},"title":"Winter Great Blue Heron On Thin Bear River Ice – Utah Is On Thin Ice Too","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Great Blue Heron almost two years ago, walking gingerly on the thinning ice of the Bear River. I was on my way to the auto tour loop at the refuge when I spotted this heron.","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 falling through ice on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-heron-winter-bear-river-ice-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/great-blue-heron-bear-river-landing-mia-mcpherson-0605.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/great-blue-heron-bear-river-landing-mia-mcpherson-0605.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/great-blue-heron-bear-river-landing-mia-mcpherson-0605.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/great-blue-heron-bear-river-landing-mia-mcpherson-0605.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":99752,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/09\/winter-great-blue-heron-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":65932,"position":4},"title":"Winter Great Blue Heron Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge two days ago I was able to take quite a few Great Blue Heron images of four individual herons in the marsh.\u00a0","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":"Resting Great Blue Heron on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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