{"id":83073,"date":"2021-04-01T05:28:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T11:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=83073"},"modified":"2025-05-20T09:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:53:17","slug":"utahs-ospreys-are-back-for-their-nesting-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/01\/utahs-ospreys-are-back-for-their-nesting-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah’s Ospreys Are Back For Their Nesting Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale and male Ospreys on their nest \u2013 Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was hoping to find my first of the year Swainson’s Hawks yesterday but instead I spotted my first of year Ospreys.<\/p>\n

I am always looking for birds. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing. I can be at home, in the field, or zooming along the Interstate. I look and listen for birds.<\/p>\n

On the way home from Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I looked to see what large birds might be in the trees at Willard Bay State Park<\/span><\/a> and I also checked out the nesting platforms that were installed there a few years ago. It was precisely 09:45 a.m. when I saw not one but two Ospreys on one of the nesting platforms and they were mating!<\/p>\n

I didn’t get any photos of course because I was on the road zooming along at 75 mph but I was excited to see that Utah’s Ospreys are back for the breeding season.<\/p>\n

\"WatchfulWatchful Osprey \u2013 Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that I know the Ospreys are back I will start to keep my living room window open a bit to see if I can hear them calling<\/span><\/a> at my local pond. Sometimes they stop at the pond for a day or two on migration and I’d love to get photos of them there. Or anywhere.<\/p>\n

Seeing and hearing Ospreys always makes me happy.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Osprey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

The top photo was taken at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area<\/span><\/a> in 2012. The bottom Osprey photo was taken at Honeymoon Island State Park<\/span><\/a> in Florida in 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was hoping to find my first of the year Swainson’s Hawks yesterday but instead I spotted my first of year Ospreys.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145548,"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":[27,3464,981,25,468,466,2000,26],"tags":[4004,4897,4070,4415,4390,37,4062,4075,2132,4450,3992,6784,4189,4104,4063,11313,5733],"class_list":["post-83073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-daggett-county","category-flaming-gorge-national-recreation-area","category-florida","category-honeymoon-island-state-park","category-ospreys","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-branch","tag-female","tag-fish-hawk","tag-flaming-gorge-reservoir","tag-florida-2","tag-male","tag-nest","tag-nesting-platform","tag-nesting-season","tag-osprey","tag-ospreys","tag-pandion-haliaetus","tag-perched","tag-raptor","tag-sea-hawk","tag-watchful"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-on-the-nest-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4843.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-lBT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8387,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/18\/ospreys-of-flaming-gorge\/","url_meta":{"origin":83073,"position":0},"title":"Ospreys of Flaming Gorge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year at about this same time these Ospreys were busy building their nest while this year they were already sitting on eggs at Flaming Gorge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The beauty of Flaming Gorge as seen from the boat launch at Antelope Flat, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey about to land on the nest, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-female-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4923.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-female-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4923.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-female-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4923.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-female-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4923.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14633,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/27\/my-love-of-ospreys\/","url_meta":{"origin":83073,"position":3},"title":"My Love of Ospreys","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago a first of the year sighting from the UBIRD group got me all excited because it means that the Ospreys have returned to Utah!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Osprey in flight with prey at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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At least this female Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is landing with flared wings and tail!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Flat"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Flat","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-flat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey landing on nest, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6133,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/19\/the-osprey-vs-the-black-billed-magpie\/","url_meta":{"origin":83073,"position":5},"title":"The Osprey VS the Black-billed Magpie","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In May of this year I camped at Antelope Flat in the Flaming Gorge National recreation Area and near the boat ramp there was an Osprey nest.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey \u2013 Black-billed Magpie Fish Fight, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83073","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=83073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}