{"id":77816,"date":"2021-01-15T06:14:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T13:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=77816"},"modified":"2025-10-29T06:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:14:15","slug":"photographing-winter-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/15\/photographing-winter-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Winter Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter Birds<\/h2>\n

I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> and closer to home in the morning and afternoon. This morning I am sharing a few of the photos that I took.<\/p>\n

Farmington Bay WMA in the morning<\/h2>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Black-crowned Night Heron in flight \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent most of my time in the marshes of Farmington Bay photographing Black-crowned Night Herons. There were at least two adults, one sub-adult, and quite a few immature herons in the area.<\/p>\n

\"RestingResting Black-crowned Night Heron adult \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/400, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A young Black-crowned Night Heron pushed this adult off of its perch and out into the open water. The adult rested for a bit before flying back to the vegetation to warm up in the sun.<\/p>\n

I took hundreds of photos of these night herons and I am sure I will share more photos of them in the future.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe food chase \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were also quite a few Pied-billed Grebes. Some were resting, a few were preening and there were also some fights and chases. This chases started because one of the Pied-billed Grebes caught a Weather\u00a0 Loach and the other grebe was trying to steal it.<\/p>\n

Other birds were at Farmington Bay WMA were harder to find and photograph.<\/p>\n

Close to home in the afternoon<\/h2>\n

\"FriskyFrisky drake Mallards \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon was a switch from the morning because there were plenty of birds to aim my lens at. The thin ice that had almost covered the pond the day before had melted because of warmer temps.<\/p>\n

Male Mallards have begun to get frisky because they know spring isn’t that far away now. I saw several fights break out between male mallards and I was even to catch a few of the skirmishes in photos.<\/p>\n

Most of the mallards at this pond are domestic types although a few wild mallards also show up during the winter.<\/p>\n

\"FightingFighting American Coots \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

American Coots also put on a show yesterday afternoon. They preened, fed, walked around on the shore, rested, and fought for food and feeding territories. I had several opportunities to photograph them while they fought.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter American Coot portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus there were a few times the American Coots came in close enough for me to take portraits of their faces, dark heads, red eyes, and ivory colored bills.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Common Merganser in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Small flocks of Common Mergansers rested and floated on the icy cold water of the pond. I saw more male mergansers than females or first winter birds which delighted me because they are colorful and handsome in their breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Common Merganser swimming by \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When a first winter Common Merganser swam past me I was happy to take its photo. This young merganser looked wary because there was an unattended child nearby who was tormenting the birds along the shore for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a male Great-tailed Grackle flew in and landed so close to me that I opted to take portraits of him. His shiny iridescent feathers glowed in the afternoon light.<\/p>\n

Something isn’t quite right with his bill but he looks healthy and I am sure he is getting enough food.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Bald Eagle in flight over Salt Lake City \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A Bald Eagle flew in and provided me with great views of it in flight over the pond as it was chased by several California and Ring-billed Gulls. The eagle made the ducks, grebes, and coots nervous as it circled over the pond. The gulls were successful in chasing the eagle off.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult female Common Merganser in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Bald Eagle departed I focused on the ducks that were still on the pond. When this adult female Common Merganser swam past I was glad to have her in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Canvasback in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There was one lone female Canvasback duck mixed in with the other birds on the pond. She associated most with few Redheads out in the middle of the pond most of the time. I was over the moon that she came in closer and I took a nice series of images of her.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye displaying \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the Common Goldeneyes I saw yesterday afternoon were males. A few of the males have already started displaying to attract the attention of the females they swam past.<\/p>\n

\"RedheadRedhead drakes in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As the sun started slipping lower on the western horizon a few Redhead ducks finally came in close enough to take photos of them.<\/p>\n

I spent about and hour and a half photographing the winter birds that were close to home and by the time I was done my hands were getting numb from the cold breeze that was blowing.<\/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":"

I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155986,"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":[137,151,27,321,4708,962,476,1022,697,426,965,135,2460,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,4237,2461,4710,846,2663,1533,4053,4238,4709,4284,4142,4520,976,2772,2773,4717,10875,779,4753,4483,1129,126,3903,3133,4070,4743,4337,2450,4052,4122,1130,10874,4121,6348,5586,4779,4780,2429,877,707,4152,627,626,4067,4062,7951,4094,4705,4704,4239,3956,3957,4292,4009,4166,1984,4046,4106,4778,153,4560,8118,1283,313,3996,2063,5526,373,4193],"class_list":["post-77816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-bald-eagle","category-avian","category-black-crowned-night-herons","category-canvasbacks","category-common-goldeneyes","category-common-mergansers","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-tailed-grackles","category-mallards","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-redheads","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-coot","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-aythya-americana","tag-aythya-valisineria","tag-bald-eagle","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-black-crowned-night-heron","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-canvasback","tag-chase","tag-close-up","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-common-merganser","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-dicks","tag-displaying","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-female","tag-fight","tag-fighting","tag-first-winter","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-food","tag-frisky","tag-fulica-americana","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-grackle","tag-grackles","tag-great-tailed-grackle","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-mallards","tag-marsh","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nycticorax-nycticorax","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-prey","tag-quiscalus-mexicanus","tag-raptors","tag-redhead","tag-redheads","tag-swimming","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-weather-loach","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kf6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18711,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/19\/a-few-winter-birds-at-farmington-bay-and-flapping-wings\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":0},"title":"A Few Winter Birds At Farmington Bay And Flapping Wings","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe when the weather clears tomorrow I'll be able to get back out Farmington Bay to photograph more birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Merganser wing flap, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98474,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/26\/christmas-day-birds-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":1},"title":"Christmas Day Birds 2021","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake with a Christmas crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6718,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/06\/three-years-ago-today-when-it-was-actually-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":2},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ring-billed-gull-winter-mia-mcpherson-8512.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14386,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/18\/the-advantages-of-photographing-birds-close-to-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":3},"title":"The Advantages of Photographing Birds Close to Home","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many beginning photographers dream of taking images in far off places of exotic birds and there is nothing wrong with that. But we shouldn\u2019t overlook the advantages of photographing birds close to home.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Coot and reflection, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8277.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8277.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8277.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-reflection-mia-mcpherson-8277.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109677,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/18\/immature-black-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":4},"title":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron – Where Are The Birds?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While going through my archives I found this photo of a fishing immature Black-crowned Night Heron taken 10 years ago today at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron fishing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110264,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/15\/great-goldeneye-merganser-showdown-who-won-the-shad\/","url_meta":{"origin":77816,"position":5},"title":"Great Goldeneye-Merganser Showdown: Who Won the Shad?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Bear River MBR I saw and photographed a Goldeneye-Merganser showdown where the prize that was being fought over was a shiny shad.","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":"Common Merganser chasing a Common Goldeneye with a shad, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.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\/77816","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=77816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}