{"id":6718,"date":"2012-12-06T03:55:11","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T10:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6718"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:54:10","slug":"three-years-ago-today-when-it-was-actually-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/06\/three-years-ago-today-when-it-was-actually-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Years Ago Today When It Was Actually Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been too warm here in Utah to be called “Winter” yet. The snow that we have had hasn’t lasted long and even most of the mornings have been above freezing but the weather forecasters say that is going to change this weekend.<\/p>\n

Well, weather forecasters are often wrong so I won’t be holding my breath but it does give me a little hope.<\/p>\n

Three years ago today though the ground was covered in drifts of snow, the temps were below freezing, there was ice on the ponds & lakes, and there was a sharp briskness to the air that can only be found in winter. These are a few of the images I took that morning at a pond a few blocks from where I live.<\/p>\n

American Coots<\/h2>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot wing flapping – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

We have tons of American Coots here in the winter until the water freezes solid and then the coots move to find open water. Coots aren’t the most colorful of birds but they are amusing to watch and photograph and they are a challenge because of the high contrasts between the whites and the darks.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot in pre-attack pose – Nikon D300, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The coots squabble and fight a lot amongst each other, this coot was getting ready to chase another one across the icy pond.<\/p>\n

Mallards<\/h2>\n

\"MallardMallard drake in winter – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

We also have plenty of Mallards too, domestic, wild and mixes of the two. Behind this drake this there is a\u00a0 sheet of ice on the pond. By the time I took this image my hands were getting cold even with gloves on and a heat pack tucked into them.<\/p>\n

Pied-billed Grebes<\/h2>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Pied-billed Grebe in an icy pond – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/350, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Pied-billed Grebes are another species that will be on my local pond until it freezes over and they are great fun to photograph because they are feisty little characters. This one was a hatch year bird when I photographed it as it still shows evidence of the striped head that juvenile Pied-billed Grebes have in their first year.<\/p>\n

Common Goldeneyes<\/h2>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye female on Willow Pond – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There are times we get other duck species including Common Goldeneyes but they never seem to stick around long. This female Common Goldeneye was gone the next time I visited the pond a few days later.<\/p>\n

Gulls<\/h2>\n

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull on the edge of ice – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also California and Ring-billed Gulls at my local pond during the winter. This Ring-billed Gull had walked too close to the edge of the thin\u00a0ice and nearly fell in, it was walking back from where one of its feet cracked through the ice and it was using its wings to regain its balance.<\/p>\n

Snow is supposed to arrive this Saturday, I hope it does, it is time for winter!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago today though the ground was covered in drifts of snow, the temps were below freezing, there was ice on the ponds & lakes and there was a sharp briskness to the air that can only be found in winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,27,962,965,135,410,709,26],"tags":[4010,4237,4238,4520,2772,2773,4753,1129,126,4121,6348,5586,877,707,3539,521,1604,7951,4009,4166,1984,3996,373],"class_list":["post-6718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-mallards","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-ring-billed-gulls","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-american-coot","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-diving-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-fulica-americana","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Km","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":77816,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/15\/photographing-winter-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":6718,"position":0},"title":"Photographing 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2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake with a Christmas crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Ring-billed Gull flying in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-5867.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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