{"id":75212,"date":"2020-11-09T06:18:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T13:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75212"},"modified":"2025-09-14T06:25:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:25:56","slug":"winter-has-arrived-along-with-many-opportunities-to-photograph-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/09\/winter-has-arrived-along-with-many-opportunities-to-photograph-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Has Arrived Along With Many Opportunities To Photograph Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter Birds<\/h2>\n

\"CloseClose up of an adult Ring-billed Gull in a snowstorm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 1000, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I realize that I sounded a bit sad yesterday when I wrote about the winds of change and winter’s arrival<\/span><\/a> closing access to places I love to photograph birds but it isn’t all bad. Winter’s arrival also means that I’ll have many opportunities to photograph birds close to home.<\/p>\n

When the weather turns colder, the clouds gather, and the snow falls I still have plenty of birds to photograph here in northern Utah. The freezing temps often cause birds to gather on or near a couple of ponds that I can be at in less than five minutes when a sucker hole opens in the sky to let the sunlight through or when I know that big, fluffy snowflakes are falling.<\/p>\n

I adore photographing birds in snowstorms with fluffy snowflakes in the frame. My cameras handle low light situations well and I can crank the ISO up high enough to get sharp images so there is no reason I wouldn’t photograph birds in the snow. Some of my favorite images in my galleries were taken in low light situations.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye near sunset – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I can also spend time photographing birds in late afternoon and as the sun goes down close to home without having to be concerned about driving home in rush hour traffic on slick or snowy roads with the crazies that drive 80 mph no matter what the road conditions are.<\/p>\n

By going to my local ponds I am able to sit and relax while photographing birds in sweet golden light without having to get up at o’dark hundred and drive for miles and miles in the darkness before dawn. I can’t think of a downside to that!<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser portrait in evening light – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The colder weather brings birds to my local ponds that I often have a hard time getting close to any other time of the year as well as migrating birds passing through this area and those who overwinter in the valley. It also brings in ducks and other waterfowl that have discovered that they won’t be shot at on these smaller urban ponds.<\/p>\n

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull fly by in a snowstorm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 2500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Winter can be great for photographing birds close to home in any kind of light. In fact, winter is an excellent time for bird photography in all<\/em> of northern Utah as long as I can get to them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When the weather turns colder, the clouds gather, and the snow falls I still have plenty of birds to photograph here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119828,"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":[27,962,6932,410,709,26],"tags":[4004,4238,4142,4520,4711,4753,4483,1129,126,4433,4052,8983,4122,6348,5586,3539,521,6934,4264,6933,4062,4705,4704,1984,4046,4468,4050,4509,4900,4899,3993,2063,373],"class_list":["post-75212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-hooded-mergansers","category-ring-billed-gulls","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-close-up","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving-duck","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-evening-light","tag-flight","tag-fly-by","tag-flying","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-hooded-merganser","tag-larus-delawarensis","tag-lophodytes-cucullatus","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-ring-billed-gull","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowflakes","tag-snowstorm","tag-sunset","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-5309.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jz6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6718,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/06\/three-years-ago-today-when-it-was-actually-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":75212,"position":0},"title":"Three Years Ago Today When It Was Actually Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-billed Gull on the edge of ice in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.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-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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