{"id":95773,"date":"2021-10-01T05:10:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T11:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=95773"},"modified":"2021-10-01T05:12:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T11:12:01","slug":"snowy-egret-with-the-strangest-shadows-i-have-ever-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/01\/snowy-egret-with-the-strangest-shadows-i-have-ever-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Egret With The Strangest Shadows I Have Ever Seen &#8211; How Does This Even Happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-95768 size-full\" title=\"Snowy Egret with odd shadows\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy Egret with odd shadows, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"950\" height=\"634\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27634%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20950%20634%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27634%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg 950w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Snowy Egret with odd shadows \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday morning I took a series of photos of a Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay WMA with the strangest shadows I have ever seen. There is the regular shadow of the whole body of the egret on the bank on the water&#8217;s edge with a second shadow of the legs of the egret enclosed inside the first shadow.<\/p>\n<p>I could see the weirdness while I took photos of the Snowy Egret and I still can&#8217;t figure this out. How does the shadow of the long legs of the egret get inside the shadow of the bird&#8217;s body?<\/p>\n<p>At first I thought the second shadow of the legs was being projected by the morning light on the water but I don&#8217;t know if that can explain two separate but joined shadows.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-95767 size-full\" title=\"Snowy Egret with strangest shadows I have ever seen\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy Egret with strangest shadows I have ever seen, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"950\" height=\"634\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27634%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20950%20634%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27634%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579.jpg 950w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Snowy Egret with strangest shadows I have ever seen \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m including a second photo that is even odder to show that there wasn&#8217;t just some dark areas of the bank that created the strange shadows. To make things even stranger in this photo the shadow of the legs inside the shadow of the whole egret can be seen inside the reflection of the shadow on the water.<\/p>\n<p>Notice how the shadow of the legs reaches the top of the shadow of the body in these photos? I&#8217;m very interested in any and all explanations because this makes no sense to me.<\/p>\n<p>I honestly can not figure this weird secondary shadow of the egret&#8217;s legs situation out. How does this even happen?<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good. And at times just plain weird.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/snowy-egret-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Snowy Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday morning I took a series of photos of a Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay WMA with the strangest shadows I have ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95767,"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":[4004,970,7476,743,351,4120,12342,4620,7778,6220,4204,4094,4099,1003,12341,2504,958,12340,1994,4677,3988,1008,12339,313,3996,9921,4095],"class_list":["post-95773","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-autumn","tag-bank","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-enclosed","tag-fall","tag-inside","tag-legs","tag-light","tag-marsh","tag-morning-light","tag-odd","tag-projected","tag-reflection","tag-reflections","tag-secondary-shadow","tag-shadow","tag-shadows","tag-snowy-egret","tag-strange","tag-strangest","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-weird","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/snowy-egret-strange-shadows-mia-mcpherson-6579.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oUJ","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":95773,"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/snowy-egret-marsh-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-1077-Copy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106501,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/24\/snowy-egret-in-a-natural-spotlight\/","url_meta":{"origin":95773,"position":1},"title":"Snowy Egret In A Natural Spotlight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When this Snowy Egret emerged from the shadows and into the sunlight yesterday morning, I briefly forgot to breathe. The egret appeared to be glowing.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret stepping into the light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-in-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-6585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-in-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-6585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-in-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-6585.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-in-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-6585.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106258,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/15\/late-summer-snowy-egret-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":95773,"position":2},"title":"Late Summer Snowy Egret Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Monday I focused on taking Snowy Egret images after taking photos of a Virginia Rail and Lesser Yellowlegs at a near empty pond At Farmington Bay.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up adult Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/snowy-egret-pond-mia-mcpherson-3645.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":141331,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/09\/snowy-egret-photos-plus-a-poop-shot\/","url_meta":{"origin":95773,"position":3},"title":"Snowy Egret Photos Plus A Poop Shot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-3618.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74721,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/17\/glowing-snowy-egret-in-a-ray-of-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":95773,"position":4},"title":"Glowing Snowy Egret In A Ray Of Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The stark contrast of the white plumage of the Snowy Egret against the darkness of shadows on the vegetation and water made the egret appear to glow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in a ray of morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-beam-of-light-mia-mcpherson-7391.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-beam-of-light-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-beam-of-light-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-beam-of-light-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54291,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/25\/snowy-egrets-in-flight-on-a-september-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":95773,"position":5},"title":"Snowy Egrets in Flight On A September Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been a while since I photographed Snowy Egrets so having them in my viewfinder yesterday morning was a real treat especially since they will be migrating soon and I will go the winter without seeing them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in flight on a late September morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.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-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6599.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\/95773","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=95773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}