{"id":76941,"date":"2021-01-01T06:57:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T13:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=76941"},"modified":"2025-10-29T06:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:18:54","slug":"happy-new-years-day-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/01\/happy-new-years-day-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year’s Day 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is a chilly 29\u00b0F where I live in northern Utah on New Year’s Day 2021 and from my living room window I can see that it is foggy outside. I’m so glad to put 2020 in my rear view mirror. It was a rough year.<\/p>\n

I’m looking forward to seeing my first bird of 2021 and will be anxious to see what species I raise my lens for the first time in 2021.<\/p>\n

First Birds Seen In The Recent Past<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In both 2019 and 2020 the first birds I saw were American Crows. In 2020 I saw the crows<\/span><\/a> in the parking lot of my local grocery store when I drove there to get a cheese bagel.\u00a0 In 2018 it was a Black-billed Magpie I saw and heard outside my door. For three years in a row the first birds I saw in the new year were intelligent and fascinating corvids.<\/p>\n

First Birds Photographed In The Recent Past<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"CanadaCanada Goose on New Year’s Day 2020
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020 the first bird I raised my lens for was an adult Canada Goose in flight at my local pond on a foggy, dreary New Year’s Day. I could wish that I had had better light that morning and that the first bird I raised my lens for was something less common than an Canada Goose. I am passionate about all<\/em> birds in all kinds of conditions so this goose made my day.<\/p>\n

\"BathingBathing Pied-billed Grebe on New Year’s Day 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019 the first bird I raised my lens for was a cute Pied-billed Grebe taking a New Year’s Day bath. It splashed water all over the place and then settled down to preen.<\/p>\n

\"CanadaCanada Goose portrait on New Year’s Day 2018
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2018 the first bird I photographed was another Canada Goose. The goose was so close to me that I opted to take portraits of it.<\/p>\n

I see a trend of corvids for the first bird seen for the year and waterbirds as the first photographed.<\/p>\n

I still don’t know what the first bird is that I will see and what the first bird is that I will photograph in 2021 because it is still dark outside or what birds I will photograph throughout this year. I do know that the birds I will see this year will amaze, delight and enchant me because that is what birds do for me. Every day of the year.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year. May it be ever so much better than 2020 was.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a chilly 29\u00b0F where I live in northern Utah on New Year’s Day 2021 and from my living room window I can see that it is foggy outside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121142,"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":[27,28,135,709,26],"tags":[4004,4373,32,4774,10791,4052,4122,4175,713,4775,877,707,156,6924,10792,4009,4166,1984,10793,2688,5758,4076,8018,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-76941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-canada-geese","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bathing","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-canada-geese","tag-first-bird","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-fog","tag-geese","tag-goose","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-low-light-2","tag-new-years-day","tag-photographed","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-seen","tag-splashing","tag-sunny","tag-trees","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-goose-new-years-day-2020-mia-mcpherson-8522.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-k0Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49510,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/20\/resting-pied-billed-grebe-on-silky-looking-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":0},"title":"Resting Pied-billed Grebe on Silky Looking Water","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pied-billed Grebe was a bit too far away to take frame filling images of it but I was okay with that because I feel that the visual appearance of the silky water is just as important as the bird in these photos.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Silky water and a Pied-billed Grebe, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-silky-water-mia-mcpherson-7577.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-silky-water-mia-mcpherson-7577.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-silky-water-mia-mcpherson-7577.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-silky-water-mia-mcpherson-7577.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49945,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/18\/a-brief-but-aggressive-encounter-between-pied-billed-grebes\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":1},"title":"Brief But Aggressive Encounter Between Pied-Billed Grebes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This aggressive encounter between the two Pied-billed Grebes only lasted a few seconds and if I hadn't been paying attention I would have missed photographing it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Pied-billed Grebes fighting, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pied-billed-grebes-fighting-mia-mcpherson-6700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pied-billed-grebes-fighting-mia-mcpherson-6700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pied-billed-grebes-fighting-mia-mcpherson-6700.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pied-billed-grebes-fighting-mia-mcpherson-6700.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109913,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/30\/fluffy-butt-pied-billed-grebe\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":2},"title":"Fluffy Butt Pied-billed Grebe","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What bird is cuter than a fluffy butt Pied-billed Grebe? There are probably quite a few birds as cute but this one taken four years ago tickled my fancy today.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy butt Pied-billed Grebe, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55867,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/30\/bird-gatherings-pied-billed-grebes-great-egrets-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":3},"title":"Bird Gatherings – Pied-billed Grebes, Great Egrets And More","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It is winter here but the birds know that spring is around the corner and more gatherings like the ones I saw two days ago will happen again and I hope I am able to slow down and enjoy it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gathering of Pied-billed grebes, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebes-two-dozen-mia-mcpherson-5847.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebes-two-dozen-mia-mcpherson-5847.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebes-two-dozen-mia-mcpherson-5847.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebes-two-dozen-mia-mcpherson-5847.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63145,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/22\/bathing-adult-pied-billed-grebe-splashing-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":4},"title":"Bathing Adult Pied-billed Grebe Splashing Water","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pied-billed Grebe dunked its head then slapped its wings against the water vigorously which caused the icy water to fly in all directions.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Pied-billed Grebe bathing and splashing, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-mia-mcpherson-4994.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-mia-mcpherson-4994.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-mia-mcpherson-4994.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-mia-mcpherson-4994.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116150,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/20\/late-summer-baby-pied-billed-grebes\/","url_meta":{"origin":76941,"position":5},"title":"Late Summer Baby Pied-billed Grebes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my most recent trip to Bear River MBR, I had a huge thrill. I found four baby Pied-billed Grebes still in their striped juvenile plumage in the marsh.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four baby Pied-billed Grebes in late summer, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.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\/76941","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=76941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}