{"id":96656,"date":"2021-10-25T06:07:55","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T12:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=96656"},"modified":"2021-10-25T06:07:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T12:07:55","slug":"ring-billed-gull-in-flight-and-erratic-autumn-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/25\/ring-billed-gull-in-flight-and-erratic-autumn-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Ring-billed Gull In Flight And Erratic Autumn Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ring-billedRing-billed Gull in flight in front of an incoming storm \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After a long, dry, smoky, and sunny summer autumn weather in northern Utah seems very erratic to me. Cool one day and hot the next. From sunlight filled skies to dark and foreboding clouds in a matter of minutes. Calm to extremely windy in a quarter of an hour. In autumn I can even see snow falling when the temps are above 40\u00b0F.<\/p>\n

But the change is good. We’ve gotten some rain over the past week and we desperately need it. Last night when I moved my Jeep into the driveway I looked east at the Wasatch Mountains and noticed through the clouds that the mountain tops have turned white from the snow that has fallen on the high country.<\/p>\n

This morning as I sit writing this post the wind is howling and when I looked outside of my living room window into the dark street I can see thick clouds scuttling past overhead which are illuminated by the lights of the city. Autumn weather here is changeable.<\/p>\n

Changing weather is what was happening when I photographed this Ring-billed Gull last month flying over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA. It was bright and sunny where I was sitting in my Jeep photographing the birds in front of me yet there were storm clouds moving in from the north which is why the clouds behind the gull appeared dark and slightly ominous. I liked the contrast between light and dark in this photo a lot which is a good thing because until summer arrives next year I can expect to see skies like this more frequently while I am out photographing birds.<\/p>\n

The changeable light plus the erratic weather challenges me and my photographic skills and I like that.<\/p>\n

It is going to be very windy and cloudy here for most of the day but perhaps I will head to one of the local ponds to see what birds I can find on the wing.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Changing weather is what was happening when I photographed this Ring-billed Gull last month flying over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96654,"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":[27,1022,697,410,26],"tags":[4004,970,4101,12514,4620,4052,12515,3539,521,12513,4264,4094,4246,4468,12516,4018,4500,9390,4111,4095],"class_list":["post-96656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-ring-billed-gulls","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-clouds","tag-erratic","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-foreboding","tag-gull","tag-gulls","tag-incoming","tag-larus-delawarensis","tag-marsh","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-ring-billed-gull","tag-skies","tag-sky","tag-storm","tag-stormy","tag-weather","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ring-billed-gull-storm-clouds-mia-mcpherson-6608.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-p8Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":108084,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/16\/ring-billed-gull-feeding-frenzy-excitement\/","url_meta":{"origin":96656,"position":0},"title":"Ring-billed Gull Feeding Frenzy Excitement","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge two days ago I witnessed several Ring-billed Gull feeding frenzies out on the marshes of the refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Ring-billed Gull feeding frenzy on the marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ring-billed-gull-feeding-frenzy-mia-mcpherson-4227.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ring-billed-gull-feeding-frenzy-mia-mcpherson-4227.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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morning, I'm sharing a simple photo of a resting Ring-billed Gull adult that I took the last time I made a trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Resting Ring-billed Gull at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ring-billed-gull-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-7360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ring-billed-gull-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-7360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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