{"id":85388,"date":"2021-04-22T04:50:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T10:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=85388"},"modified":"2025-03-19T07:36:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:36:46","slug":"great-blue-heron-foraging-in-a-farm-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/22\/great-blue-heron-foraging-in-a-farm-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron Foraging In A Farm Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two days ago the second bird I photographed was a Great Blue Heron foraging in a farm pond just after sunrise in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Box_Elder_County,_Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Box Elder County<\/span><\/a>. I&#8217;ve seen Great Blue Herons in this pond before. I just haven&#8217;t gotten photos of them that I liked until now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-141828 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron in a farm pond\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron in a farm pond, 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\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron in a farm pond \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I liked the warm light, the heron&#8217;s pose, the reflections on the water and the eye contact I had with the heron.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder if this heron has young and if so where it would nest nearby since there aren&#8217;t any large trees close by. Way out in the distance there are some marshy areas that surround the Great Salt Lake and these herons will nest on the ground when they don&#8217;t have large trees to nest in.<\/p>\n<p>On the way home I photographed either this Great Blue Heron or a different heron taking flight from the same farm pond. Those photos were nice but they lacked the golden hued light that the first series of heron images I took had.<\/p>\n<p>This is a relatively simple image and sometimes that is exactly what I want to capture in my photos. A bird just going about its life simply doing what birds do.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/great-blue-heron-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two days ago the second bird I photographed was a Great Blue Heron foraging in a farm pond just after sunrise in Box Elder County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141828,"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":[27,1148,166,26],"tags":[4004,4117,4974,4136,4254,3987,627,626,465,4190,313,3996],"class_list":["post-85388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-farm-pond","tag-foraging","tag-golden-light","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-sun-rise","tag-sunrise","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-farm-pond-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-7226.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-mde","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15554,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/04\/glover-pond-with-great-blue-herons-and-white-faced-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":0},"title":"Glover Pond with Great Blue Herons and White-faced Ibis","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I focused on a few wading birds I saw at Glover Pond near the Great Salt Lake Nature Center and that include Great Blue Herons and White-faced Ibis.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in landing position","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-landing-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-landing-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-landing-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-landing-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110536,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/26\/golden-hour-urban-great-blue-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":1},"title":"Golden Hour: Urban Great Blue Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I photographed at a local park I found a Great Blue Heron resting in the water at the edge of a pond in the golden light found just after dawn.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Great Blue Heron in golden light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137688,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/06\/great-blue-heron-at-charleston-lake-plus-a-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Heron At Charleston Lake Plus A Video","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this Great Blue Heron image on December 1st at Charleston Lake Park in Franklin County, Arkansas, on the same day as the cormorant photos I recently shared.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Great Blue Heron foraging at Charleston Lake, Charleston Lake Park, Franklin County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/great-blue-heron-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-4476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/great-blue-heron-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-4476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/great-blue-heron-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-4476.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/great-blue-heron-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-4476.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108065,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/15\/great-blue-heron-on-driftwood\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron On Driftwood","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early yesterday morning where the first bird I photographed was a Great Blue Heron standing on driftwood.","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":"Morning Great Blue Heron standing on driftwood, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-blue-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4079.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-blue-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4079.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-blue-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4079.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-blue-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4079.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15629,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/11\/little-blue-heron-in-a-florida-lagoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":4},"title":"Little Blue Heron In A Florida Lagoon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I missed the Little Blue Heron in Utah but I have fond memories of the day I photographed this one as the sun began to set over the Gulf of Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Little Blue Heron at sunset, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-5544.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-5544.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-5544.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-5544.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49989,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/20\/great-blue-heron-in-flight-with-the-wasatch-mountains-in-the-background\/","url_meta":{"origin":85388,"position":5},"title":"Great Blue Heron in Flight With The Wasatch Mountains In The Background","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn't everyday I get to see and photograph a Great Blue Heron in flight with the Wasatch Mountains in the background but I had that opportunity two afternoons ago at a pond close to home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron flying in front of the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-mountains-flight-mia-mcpherson-8332.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-mountains-flight-mia-mcpherson-8332.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85388","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=85388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}