{"id":78649,"date":"2021-01-31T05:30:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T12:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=78649"},"modified":"2025-05-09T11:23:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:23:53","slug":"winter-great-blue-heron-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/31\/winter-great-blue-heron-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Great Blue Heron In Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter Great Blue Heron in flight \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m keeping it simple today and sharing a single photo of a winter Great Blue Heron in flight over the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>. I took this photo last February when I was leaving the auto tour route to head home. It hadn’t been an especially birdy day out on the marshes. Seeing this heron and a few others brightened up my morning.<\/p>\n

Great Blue Herons are year round residents in the marshes at the refuge. They cope well with the cold, snow, ice, and winds that are typical during winter on the refuge. When the marshes freezes over they either start hunting for small mammals or they find the few areas of the marshes that are ice free except on the coldest days.<\/p>\n

I didn’t see this Great Blue Heron hidden in the vegetation until it took off. I locked onto it and I was able to take a few photos of it in flight. I like how the wispy phrags anchor this image, the distant snow-topped Wasatch Mountains and the nice view of the heron’s eye.<\/p>\n

I adore these large wading birds any time of the year yet during the winter I often think of just how tough these herons are.\u00a0 I also think about how they adapt to the seasonal changes and to the changes we humans have forced on them by altering their habitat.<\/p>\n

Great Blue Herons endure, survive, and thrive even during our coldest winters and hottest summers here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I’m keeping it simple today and sharing a single photo of a winter Great Blue Heron in flight over the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143860,"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":[124,27,1148,166,26],"tags":[4004,4117,4052,4122,627,626,4094,4069,4059,6428,4018,4050,313,4095,373],"class_list":["post-78649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-phragmites","tag-phrags","tag-sky","tag-snow","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7831.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ksx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":117958,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/08\/great-blue-heron-photos-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":78649,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron Photos In Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If you want to take Great Blue Heron photos in winter, on snow and ice, then head to Bear River MBR in Utah after the marsh freezes and the snow starts to fall.","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":"Fluffed up Great Blue Heron walking on ice, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I liked the heron's reflection on the Bear River.","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":", Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-river-near-rocks-brmbr-mia-mcpherson-4634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-river-near-rocks-brmbr-mia-mcpherson-4634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-blue-heron-river-near-rocks-brmbr-mia-mcpherson-4634.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip up to Bear River MBR when I found a Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River I considered not taking any images of it.","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":"Great Blue Heron warming up on the bank of the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-warming-up-mia-mcpherson-4720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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