{"id":7107,"date":"2013-01-13T05:14:30","date_gmt":"2013-01-13T12:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7107"},"modified":"2025-08-19T08:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:18:12","slug":"great-blue-heron-winter-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/13\/great-blue-heron-winter-delight\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron Winter Delight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron next to a creek\u00a0 – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I spotted this Great Blue Heron<\/span><\/a> yesterday at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and loved the setting\u00a0with the fresh snow blanketing the steep creek bank.<\/p>\n

I also thought the shadow of the bird was great and if you look very closely behind the bird you can see where the wingtips of the heron brushed the pristine snow when it landed in this location.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron and its shadow on a winter day – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 221mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0This sort of reminds me of playing “Hand Puppet” when I was a child because of the heron’s shadow. This was one of the most cooperative Great Blue Herons I have come across at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

The images that follow are in sequential order and show the Great Blue Heron lifting off from this location and moving about 50 feet\u00a0to the west. (techs to follow the images)<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron crouching for lift off<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron with wings up and flying snow<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron lifting off from the snow<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron and its shadow on the snow<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron in flight over the ice covered creek<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow covered hill and a Great Blue Heron<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron flying towards open water<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy canvas and a Great Blue Heron<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron flying over the snow<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron on a clear winter day<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these images were taken with these techs – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 200mm, natural light, the shutter speed for the last image was 1\/3200.<\/p>\n

The photos taken sequentially after these unfortunately had\u00a0grasses in front of the heron that would have been distracting as the bird landed in the new location. Those landing shots would have been wonderful without the obstructions.<\/p>\n

The snow made a lovely background for these heron images but not so much for those of us using the roads at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday. There was a duck hunting boat that slid off the road at a turn, I bet they had to use a winch to pull the boat out from the back to prevent the heavy rear end of it from sliding further down the steep shoulder.\u00a0 Those duck hunters didn’t look happy.<\/p>\n

The roads were slippery, the snow was deep. I would not recommend going there for a few days unless you have a high clearance vehicle and 4 wheel drive.<\/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":"

I spotted this Great Blue Heron yesterday at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and loved the setting with the fresh snow blanketing the steep creek bank. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[27,1022,697,166,26],"tags":[4004,4117,3843,7600,4052,4122,4492,3987,627,626,5777,4064,6241,4282,4094,1994,4050,4535,4328,313,373],"class_list":["post-7107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-creek","tag-creek-bank","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-fresh-snow","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-hill","tag-ice","tag-icy","tag-lift-off","tag-marsh","tag-shadow","tag-snow","tag-snow-bank","tag-snowy","tag-wading-birds","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1QD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62073,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/15\/great-blue-heron-in-winter-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7107,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron In Winter Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On that bright winter afternoon one of my best avian subjects was this Great Blue Heron standing in water with a bank of fresh, white snow behind it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Great Blue Heron and its shadow, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-winter-snow-creek-mia-mcpherson-9320.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-winter-snow-creek-mia-mcpherson-9320.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/great-blue-heron-late-summer-mia-mcpherson-0460.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/great-blue-heron-late-summer-mia-mcpherson-0460.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/great-blue-heron-late-summer-mia-mcpherson-0460.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/great-blue-heron-late-summer-mia-mcpherson-0460.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/13\/great-blue-herons-in-florida-and-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":7107,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Herons In Florida And Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Blue Herons are year round residents in both Florida and Utah although conditions during the winter months can be starkly different for these large wading birds in the two locations and climates.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Herons nesting at Fort De Soto County Park, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-herons-nesting-mia-mcpherson-1718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-herons-nesting-mia-mcpherson-1718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-herons-nesting-mia-mcpherson-1718.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120230,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/29\/great-blue-herons-at-the-farmington-bay-wma-rookery\/","url_meta":{"origin":7107,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Herons At The Farmington Bay WMA Rookery","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I was surprised to find Great Blue Herons already at the nests of the rookery at Farmington Bay WMA. There were more than twenty herons.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Herons on the rookery at Farmington Bay WMA in January, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.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-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/great-blue-herons-rookery-utah-mia-mcpherson-3862.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7033,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/06\/juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron-a-winter-treat\/","url_meta":{"origin":7107,"position":4},"title":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron – A Winter Treat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've mentioned before that Great Blue Herons stay in the Salt Lake Valley over winter even though the temperatures get very cold and so do some of the Black-crowned Night Herons.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I had some fun photographing a Great Blue Heron on ice along with its shadow yesterday morning on a pond at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yawning Great Blue Heron on ice, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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