{"id":79250,"date":"2021-02-13T06:34:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T13:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=79250"},"modified":"2023-11-12T07:48:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T14:48:15","slug":"adult-golden-eagle-close-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/13\/adult-golden-eagle-close-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Golden Eagle Close Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One year ago this morning spotting and photographing this adult Golden Eagle at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> was the highlight of an otherwise very crappy day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-118132 size-full\" title=\"Adult Golden Eagle close up fly by\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Golden Eagle close up fly by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult Golden Eagle close up fly by \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When I found and pointed out this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/14\/golden-eagle-on-the-wing\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Golden Eagle on the way back to I-15<\/span><\/a> it was perched in the spindly branches of a tree very close to the edge of the road. I quickly removed my teleconverter because with it I knew I had too much reach. Even with just my 500mm lens attached to my Nikon D500 I knew that if the eagle flew that I would most likely clip wing tips or feet. I took a nice series of images of the Golden Eagle perched in the tree.<\/p>\n<p>When a man in a small blue sedan pulled over and exited his vehicle to take images of the Golden Eagle he flushed it from the tree. The large eagle took to the air and I was able to take a few images where I didn&#8217;t clip a thing.<\/p>\n<p>Now it isn&#8217;t common for me to have a Golden Eagle as close to me as this one was I kept all of the photos because they were in focus, sharp and even though I clipped a few things I liked the close up views I achieved and what I could see in them.<\/p>\n<p>In this image I can see the lustrous golden nape of this eagle, its feathered legs, and how large its talons are. The eyes, bill and gape stand out well too. Most of all, I can clearly see the power and concentration of this large and impressive bird.<\/p>\n<p>Typically I don&#8217;t like to clip parts of my subjects unless I am taking portraits of them but I do make exceptions. I take photos for me and if I like them despite the flaws I see they&#8217;ll probably end up shared here and in my photo galleries.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/golden-eagle-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Golden Eagle photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One year ago this morning spotting and photographing this adult Golden Eagle at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was the highlight of an otherwise crappy day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118132,"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":[124,27,1148,1200,26],"tags":[4004,4345,2069,4142,3903,3133,4052,8983,4122,1201,153,4018,373],"class_list":["post-79250","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-golden-eagles","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-aquila-chrysaetos","tag-blue-sky","tag-close-up","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-flight","tag-fly-by","tag-flying","tag-golden-eagle","tag-raptors","tag-sky","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-adult-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9222.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kCe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100203,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/25\/the-golden-eagle-utahs-official-state-bird-of-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":79250,"position":0},"title":"The Golden Eagle &#8211; Utah&#8217;s Official State Bird Of Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I would like to celebrate the State of Utah's newly designated official state bird of prey, the Golden Eagle.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Close up Golden Eagle in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/golden-eagle-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/golden-eagle-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/golden-eagle-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9218.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/golden-eagle-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9218.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64282,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/14\/golden-eagle-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":79250,"position":1},"title":"Golden Eagle On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"No matter how these Golden Eagle photos came to be I am happy to have photographed this magnificent bird on the wing.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Golden Eagle in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-9219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-9219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-9219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/golden-eagle-flight-mia-mcpherson-9219.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34766,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/11\/sunrise-a-bald-eagle-and-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":79250,"position":2},"title":"Sunrise, a Bald Eagle and Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this adult Bald Eagle at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early on New Year's Day when the light of dawn was still golden.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunrise, a Bald Eagle and Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-2476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-2476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-2476.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-mia-mcpherson-2476.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":79250,"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 &quot;American Herring Gulls&quot;","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":109995,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/04\/leaning-post-bald-eagle\/","url_meta":{"origin":79250,"position":4},"title":"Leaning Post Bald Eagle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After my recent visit to Bear River MBR I wanted to share photos of a Bald Eagle on a leaning post that can be seen from the road leading to the auto tour loop.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stern looking Bald Eagle on a leaning post, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-leaning-post-mia-mcpherson-1917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-leaning-post-mia-mcpherson-1917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-leaning-post-mia-mcpherson-1917.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/bald-eagle-adult-leaning-post-mia-mcpherson-1917.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76531,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/25\/christmas-day-bird-photos-thru-the-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":79250,"position":5},"title":"Christmas Day Bird Photos Thru The Years","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I wanted to share some of the Christmas Day bird photos I have taken through the years out in the field and close to home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas Day snow storm and a Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79250","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=79250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}