{"id":76715,"date":"2020-12-28T06:29:37","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T13:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=76715"},"modified":"2024-09-28T10:06:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T15:06:02","slug":"immature-great-blue-heron-on-christmas-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/28\/immature-great-blue-heron-on-christmas-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Great Blue Heron On Christmas Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my Christmas Day gifts from Mother Nature was the chance to photograph an immature Great Blue Heron in a field. The young Great Blue Heron was foraging in a farmer’s field because all of the water nearby was covered in ice. These herons will switch from a diet of fish to small mammals when they can’t get through the ice.<\/p>\n

\"ForagingForaging immature Great Blue Heron close up \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The field the heron was in is right next to the road and with my long lens and teleconverter attached basically all I could do was take portraits of this immature Great Blue Heron.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Great Blue Heron portrait on Christmas Day \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone that knows me, even just a little, knows that I take great delight in taking portraits and close ups of my bird and animal subjects because of the wonderful and intricate fine details that are visible in them.<\/p>\n

There is a Great Blue Heron rookery<\/span><\/a> near the nature center at Farmington Bay WMA not far from where this young bird was photographed. A healthy population of these large wading birds inhabit the marshes at the WMA.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Great Blue Heron close up on Christmas Day \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature Great Blue Heron is experiencing its first winter in northern Utah which hasn’t been snowy so far down in the valley. With snow on the forecast this week it may get rougher on this young bird but these herons are tougher than they look.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Great Blue Heron in a farmer’s field \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

For a few moments I put my bird gear down, grabbed my backup D810 with my 18-200mm VR lens attached and took a series of images that showed the immature Great Blue Heron in the field in a wider view. When I took this photo the young bird was moving slowly through the grasses in search of prey.<\/p>\n

I was delighted to have two sessions with this immature Great Blue Heron.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my Christmas Day gifts from Mother Nature was the chance to photograph an immature Great Blue Heron in a field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135099,"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":[4117,4525,4142,1124,2450,4136,3747,4109,3987,627,626,4067,4046,325,313,373,4193],"class_list":["post-76715","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-ardea-herodias","tag-christmas-day","tag-close-up","tag-field","tag-first-winter","tag-foraging","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-portrait","tag-rookery","tag-wading-birds","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-blue-heron-immature-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3114.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jXl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75428,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/19\/photographing-an-immature-great-blue-heron-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":76715,"position":0},"title":"Photographing An Immature Great Blue Heron At Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago I spotted an immature Great Blue Heron resting at the edge of the water at Farmington Bay WMA and couldn't resist taking photos of it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Great Blue Heron with its eyes on the sky overhead, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3582.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-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-3582.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.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-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166199,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/27\/christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":76715,"position":3},"title":"Christmas Day Great Blue Heron And Turtle At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner's Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Yes, a turtle in winter!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and turtle on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"July 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"After a great session photographing young Barred Owls at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, I also took some photos of a Great Blue Heron in a nearby slough.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in Bog Smartweed, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.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-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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