{"id":94714,"date":"2021-09-10T05:34:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T11:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=94714"},"modified":"2026-02-26T06:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:52:34","slug":"small-herd-of-mule-deer-on-a-smoky-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/10\/small-herd-of-mule-deer-on-a-smoky-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Herd Of Mule Deer On A Smoky Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HerdHerd of Mule Deer on a smoky morning – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I photographed a small herd of Mule Deer in a smoky haze while I was looking for birds in the West Desert. The smoke from the western wildfires seems to have been hanging in the air here in the Great Basin<\/span><\/a> since spring and I long for clearer skies.<\/p>\n

Summer soon comes to an end but it won’t be the end of the wildfire season for some time yet.<\/p>\n

I found birds yesterday with the first being a large falcon whose ID I couldn’t pin down because the smoke in the air made it hard for me to see.<\/p>\n

I found several Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays and Red-tailed Hawks, Pine Siskins, a Wilson’s Warbler, Black-capped Chickadees, Juniper Titmice, and a hummingbird so high in a tree that I had trouble getting my heavy lens up for it.<\/p>\n

Also, I spotted a few Vesper and Chipping Sparrows, American Robins, and heard some Ruby-crowned Kinglets moving through the shrubs.<\/p>\n

I did take some nice photos of a very cooperative and close Red-tailed Hawk that I found and pointed out next to the road. But the photos I most wanted to see when I got home were the images of the herd of Mule Deer because I thought the light looked lovely despite the smoky haze.<\/p>\n

When I looked at this photo on my large screen I knew right away that I liked how it turned out. I haven’t taken as many Mule Deer photos in recent years as I would like to so when I see them I like to stop and take a few photos.<\/p>\n

I’m glad that I did yesterday.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mule Deer photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I photographed a small herd of Mule Deer in a smoky haze while I was looking for birds in the West Desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[317,358,26,1314],"tags":[3801,4097,4109,2059,887,3914,2691,4378,4069,4022,4180,10452,5376,10404,2690,5302,4193],"class_list":["post-94714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mule-deer","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-deer","tag-doe","tag-grasses","tag-haze","tag-herd","tag-juniper","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-morning","tag-mountains","tag-mule-deer","tag-odocoileus-hemionus","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-smoke","tag-smoky","tag-utah-juniper","tag-wildfire","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t