{"id":95120,"date":"2021-09-17T03:46:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T09:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=95120"},"modified":"2025-06-28T05:44:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T10:44:28","slug":"snowy-egret-photos-farmington-bay-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/17\/snowy-egret-photos-farmington-bay-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Egret Photos – Farmington Bay Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SnowySnowy Egret tiptoe landing \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday was kind of an opening day at Farmington Bay and the Snowy Egret show was the highlight of the day. It was the first time that the gate south of Goose Egg Island has been open since late winter. I’ve been told that the gate gets closed then so that the birds that nest there get some peace and quiet. Opening day means I can get to more of the WMA and the birds that are there. By the way, the gates open the Thursday before the youth hunt in Utah, the hunters have their own opening day which is different than what I call opening day. I guess that date could be called the bird photographers and birders opening day.<\/p>\n

I saw and photographed plenty of Snowy Egrets doing all kinds of things. Except eating. I didn’t see a single one of them catch and eat any food. I saw one landing on their tiptoes.<\/p>\n

\"LateLate summer Snowy Egret in flight \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And many of the Snowy Egrets in flight in front of me and high in the sky. This one flew by close to me.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret with its wing tip in the water \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And while this Snowy Egret was slightly farther away I liked how the wing tip was just barely skimming the surface of the water with one down stroke of the egret’s wing.<\/p>\n

\"DashingDashing Snowy Egret landing in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And this Snowy Egret? I thought it looked dashing but I am not another egret and they may have thought it looked more than slightly perturbed. I did like the wedge-shaped feathered crest.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret with a Covid hair style \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Which may or may not look better than this Snowy Egret who looked like it had as Covid hair style. I’m certain that many of us can relate and may have looked like this over the past year and half. Right?<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret chasing off an intruder \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Quite a few of the Snowy Egrets I saw had big attitudes and seemed very territorial. That meant there were aerial chases…<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo fighting Snowy Egrets in late summer \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And more than a few fights. None of the egrets were injured but the fights were animated and loud<\/span><\/a>. I liked the pose of the egret on the left and couldn’t figure out what happened to the head of the bird on the right until I realized that it was covered by the feathery crown feathers.<\/p>\n

\"SummerSummer Snowy Egret lifting off \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Snowy Egrets were a distance from me I was able to take images that showed the wetland habitat of the marshes at the WMA.<\/p>\n

\"FightingFighting Snowy Egrets at Farmington Bay \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the Snowy Egrets were very feisty and they were fun to watch and photograph. These two certainly were.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret in head on flight \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And I laughed out loud when I saw this photo on my computer screen at home. This isn’t a view I see often and for some reason this egret looked like it had more than one double chins.<\/p>\n

\"SnowySnowy Egret next to a wooden pole \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And this one appeared to be enjoying being in my viewfinder. It hung around for longer than most of the egrets did by a couple of wooden poles nest to the road.<\/p>\n

\"DefensiveDefensive Snowy Egret \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally this Snow Egret was voicing its displeasure at another egret that this one may have thought had gotten a little too close to its perching place.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling that more of the Snowy Egrets that I photographed yesterday will show up here again sometime soon. They all made opening day at Farmington Bay fun and exciting.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday was kind of an opening day at Farmington Bay and the Snowy Egret show was the highlight of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149600,"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":[27,1022,697,255,26],"tags":[4004,4226,929,12294,12293,822,743,351,4120,4743,4337,4052,4122,12295,5023,4123,4282,4944,4094,3988,2315,3792,5428,12299,12298,313,3996,4095,12297,12296,10924],"class_list":["post-95120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-snowy-egrets","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-behavior","tag-chasing","tag-covid","tag-dashing","tag-defensive","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-fight","tag-fighting","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hair-style","tag-head-on","tag-landing","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-marsh","tag-snowy-egret","tag-summer-3","tag-take-off","tag-taking-off","tag-tip-toe","tag-tiptoe","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-wing-tip","tag-wingtip","tag-wooden-pole"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-landing-marsh-mia-mcpherson-2752.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oKc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116268,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/26\/snowy-egret-in-marsh-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":95120,"position":0},"title":"Snowy Egret In Marsh Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the first birds I photographed this autumn was this fluffed-up Snowy Egret glowing in a natural spotlight in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in morning light at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing three Snowy Egret photos\u2014two because I like them, and the last one because it makes me laugh out loud.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret looking snazzy, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Four days ago I was able to photograph a Snowy Egret landing sequence that I liked because of the action of the bird, the setting and the lovely lighting I had at the time.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret using its wings to slow down as it lands, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/snowy-egret-landing-mia-mcpherson-8049.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/snowy-egret-landing-mia-mcpherson-8049.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/snowy-egret-landing-mia-mcpherson-8049.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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