{"id":77148,"date":"2021-01-03T06:19:28","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T13:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=77148"},"modified":"2024-11-14T18:47:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T00:47:38","slug":"winter-herring-gulls-in-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/03\/winter-herring-gulls-in-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter American Herring Gulls In Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter American Herring Gulls have arrived in northern Utah and I am excited that I will have opportunities to photograph this gull species again. Our Ring-billed and California Gulls are here year round but I only see American Herring Gulls when winter arrives and for a few weeks that makes them a target species for me.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter adult American Herring Gull portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/2500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday my friend and fellow photographer Amy Barker<\/span><\/a> asked me for help with a gull ID and I was delighted to tell her that the gull she photographed was an American Herring Gull. She was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> when she took images of it so now I know I need to head there so I can photograph them too.<\/p>\n

The adult American Herring Gull in the portrait above was photographed on February 28, 2018 at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature American Herring Gull in flight over a marsh \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I have seen American Herring Gulls at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> and have often wondered why I don’t see them at the ponds that are close to where I live. They can also be found along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>, Utah Lake<\/span><\/a>, Lee Kay Ponds<\/span><\/a> and other areas of the Salt Lake Valley and beyond.<\/p>\n

The immature American Herring Gull in the photo above was photographed on January 26, 2016 at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n

American Herring Gulls are only winter visitors to Utah. They breed in the northeastern U.S, Alaska and Canada so having them here in Utah during the winter is a treat for me. I used to see and photograph this species in Florida during the winter as well.<\/p>\n

I’m very much looking forward to seeing and photographing American Herring Gulls this winter.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Tip: Some people don’t care about gulls so if you are a gull lover<\/a><\/span> like I am you might want to look for them on your own. That way you can take your time to look through the flocks of gulls for the unusual ones we see here in Utah during the winter.<\/p>\n

See more of my American Herring Gull photos along with facts and information on this species here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter Herring Gulls have arrived in northern Utah and I am excited that I will have opportunities to photograph this gull species again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133980,"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":[1299,124,27,1148,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,1589,4142,4052,4122,3539,521,4067,4317,4094,4046,4018,9461,3996,373,4193],"class_list":["post-77148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-herring-gulls","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-herring-gull","tag-close-up","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-immature","tag-larus-smithsonianus","tag-marsh","tag-portrait","tag-sky","tag-subadult","tag-water","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5324.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-k4k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107838,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/08\/winter-california-and-herring-gull-comparison-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":0},"title":"Winter California And American Herring Gull Comparison In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herring Gull - California Gull Comparison and ID Features, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/03\/winter-california-and-herring-gull-portraits-comparisons\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":1},"title":"Winter California and American Herring Gull Portrait Comparisons","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We have the Ring-billed and California Gulls in northern Utah year round but the Herring Gulls are only winter visitors to this area.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter American Herring Gull profile portrait, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-5451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-5451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-5451.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-5451.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42938,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/01\/herring-gulls-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":2},"title":"American Herring Gulls in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We do see Herring Gulls in northern Utah during the winter and I was able to photograph this one as it circled over the water with the snow-covered Promontory Mountains and sky behind it.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Herring Gull flying over Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/herring-gull-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8261.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119542,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/06\/herring-gull-in-flight-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":3},"title":"American Herring Gull In Flight Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Three years ago today, I drove the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR alone. One of the birds I photographed that winter morning was this close-up adult Herring Gull in flight.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter American Herring Gull in flight close up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/herring-gull-winter-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/herring-gull-winter-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/herring-gull-winter-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/herring-gull-winter-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4464.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136849,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/15\/my-arkansas-american-herring-gull-sighting\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":4},"title":"My Arkansas American Herring Gull Sighting","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This past week, I had my first ever Arkansas American Herring Gull sighting. I was outdoors when several of these gulls were high overhead, too high for photos.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Herring Gull in nonbreeding plumage flying by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-flight-over-ice-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-flight-over-ice-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-flight-over-ice-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-flight-over-ice-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":78537,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/29\/winter-adult-herring-gull-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":77148,"position":5},"title":"Winter Adult American Herring Gull Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing two winter adult Herring Gull photos that I took earlier this month from the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert adult American Herring Gull in winter, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-adult-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4545.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-adult-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4545.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-adult-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4545.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/herring-gull-adult-winter-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4545.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\/77148","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=77148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}