{"id":7093,"date":"2013-01-12T04:26:57","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T10:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7093"},"modified":"2025-02-11T04:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T10:24:07","slug":"chukars-on-a-cold-winter-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/12\/chukars-on-a-cold-winter-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Chukars On A Cold Winter Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been seeing the Chukars on <a href=\"https:\/\/stateparks.utah.gov\/parks\/antelope-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Antelope Island<\/span><\/a> regularly since the snow started to stay on the ground. I read yesterday that this recent storm has dumped quite a bit more out there yesterday and I can&#8217;t wait to get back on the island to photograph the birds and animals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-139734 size-full\" title=\"Chukar fluffed up against the cold\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752.jpg\" alt=\"Chukar fluffed up against the cold, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20800%20572%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752.jpg 800w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Chukar fluffed up against the cold &#8211; Nikon D300, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I photographed these Chukars three days ago, there was a bevy of them hunkered down and all fluffed up against the cold that were basking in the warmth of the rising sun.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-139733 size-full\" title=\"Chukar warming up in the morning light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762.jpg\" alt=\"Chukar warming up in the morning light on Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20800%20572%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-rock-winter-mia-mcpherson-8762.jpg 800w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Chukar warming up in the morning light &#8211; Nikon D300, f9, 1\/500, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is going to be bitter cold for the next few days so I imagine I will be seeing more fluffed up Chukars when I go to the island.<\/p>\n<p>It is almost hard to believe that in just two months these Chukars will be <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/15\/chukars-agonistic-behavior\/\">fighting for territories<\/a><\/span> as they begin the mating season while there is over 9 inches of fresh snow on the ground where I live this morning.<\/p>\n<p>Life<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> is<\/span> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/chukar-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Chukar photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is almost hard to believe that in just two months these Chukars will be fighting for territories as they begin the mating season while there is over 9 inches of fresh snow on the ground where I live this morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139734,"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":[511,442,1022,26],"tags":[4004,4146,445,4773,2070,4309,4050,401,373,4767],"class_list":["post-7093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-chukars","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-alectoris-chukar","tag-chukar","tag-chukars","tag-cold-morning","tag-fluffed-up","tag-snow","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-winter","tag-winter-morning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/chukar-8752.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Qp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7550,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/18\/more-chukars-in-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":0},"title":"More Chukars In The Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, more Chukars in the snow! I spotted this Chukar on top of a mound of snow that the plow had pushed to the side of the road on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key Chukar on Antelope Island State Park in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-walking-mia-mcpherson-6451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-walking-mia-mcpherson-6451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-walking-mia-mcpherson-6451.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-walking-mia-mcpherson-6451.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7203,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/21\/i-love-chukars-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":1},"title":"I Love Chukars In Snow!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"These Chukar images were taken last Friday and this bird is the same one in my post titled \"Some fun with birds from yesterday\", I wanted to share more photos of it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chukar running down a snow-covered rock, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1788-walking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1788-walking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1788-walking.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1788-walking.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18452,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/05\/missing-antelope-islands-chukars\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":2},"title":"Missing Antelope Island&#8217;s Chukars","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Except for one fleeting glance of a Chukar at the end of November I have not seen Chukars on Antelope Island for several months.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chukar in falling snow on a January morning, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-1777.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45634,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/18\/photographing-chukars-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":3},"title":"Photographing Chukars on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to spend time photographing a pair of Chukars on Antelope Island State Park in a grassy area that has begun to turn green.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy Chukar portrait, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-fluffy-portrait-mia-mcpherson-7086.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-fluffy-portrait-mia-mcpherson-7086.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-fluffy-portrait-mia-mcpherson-7086.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-fluffy-portrait-mia-mcpherson-7086.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12811,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/07\/chukar-on-a-bright-winter-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":4},"title":"Chukar On A Bright Winter Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The weather forecast for today isn't as bright as it was on the day last January when I photographed this Chukar walking across a field of fresh snow instead the forecast for today is rather dreary.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chukar on a bright winter day walking across a field of snow on Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snowy-day-mia-mcpherson-5260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snowy-day-mia-mcpherson-5260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snowy-day-mia-mcpherson-5260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/chukar-snowy-day-mia-mcpherson-5260.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98032,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/08\/close-up-chukar-on-fresh-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7093,"position":5},"title":"Close Up Chukar On Fresh Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this photo of an adult Chukar standing in top of fresh snow the other day and felt a pang of sadness.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Chukar standing on top of snow, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/chukar-on-a-bright-winter-day-mia-mcpherson-5629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/chukar-on-a-bright-winter-day-mia-mcpherson-5629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/chukar-on-a-bright-winter-day-mia-mcpherson-5629.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/chukar-on-a-bright-winter-day-mia-mcpherson-5629.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}