{"id":97652,"date":"2021-11-25T05:35:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T12:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97652"},"modified":"2022-04-26T07:48:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T13:48:54","slug":"thanksgiving-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/25\/thanksgiving-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-97648 size-full\" title=\"Wild Turkey hen on top of a barn\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228.jpg\" alt=\"Wild Turkey hen on top of a barn, 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\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Wild Turkey hen on top of a barn \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Thanksgiving Day 2020 I wrote this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">As the year 2020 winds down I feel like this Thanksgiving is unlike any other in the history of this country that we have ever faced. It has been a year of tremendous hardship, turmoil and sacrifice. We\u2019ve had the pandemic, political and societal unrest, and at times it has felt as if our country was being attacked from within. Here in Utah March started out shaky because of a large earthquake that had us all ready to run for safety and on edge 24\/7 while in other areas of the country the weather battered us and throughout the west fires scorched the earth. 2020 has been a year that volumes will be written about in history books and that will likely not be forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>I guess I could also write much of the same about 2021 so far minus the earthquakes. The pandemic is still with us. There is still political and societal unrest.<\/p>\n<p>Despite how rough this year has been this morning on Thanksgiving Day I want to write about thankfulness and gratitude.<\/p>\n<p>I am grateful to still have my mom with us and that my sons and their families are well and living life the way they want to. I am grateful to have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and warmth as we move into the coldest part of the year.<\/p>\n<p>I am grateful that I am following my passion and that I am out photographing birds as often as I can. I am immensely thankful that I have sharp eyesight and bird finding skills and that I can share what I find with whomever is with me in the field and with others through my website. I am grateful that I can mentor, teach, and share my knowledge with other people.<\/p>\n<p>I am deeply grateful for my friends who have supported me, been true and loyal, and who have helped me as I grow as a person, mother, and as a photographer.<\/p>\n<p>I am thankful for life, living, and to be moving forward in this life that I have been given. I know I have much to be grateful for.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that your <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thanksgiving\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Thanksgiving Day<\/span><\/a> is filled with love, compassion, family, friends, and joy.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wild-turkeys\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to see more of my Wild Turkey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite how rough this year has been this morning on Thanksgiving Day I want to write about thankfulness and gratitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97648,"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":[27,1148,26,3793],"tags":[4004,970,1782,4098,4620,4070,4359,3795,12588,12571,11852,6650,12589,3796,5501,401,3794],"class_list":["post-97652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-wild-turkeys","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-barn","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-hen","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-on-top","tag-pole-barn","tag-ranchlands","tag-red","tag-thanksgiving","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-wild-turkey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-4228.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pp2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":137565,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/28\/wild-turkey-images-happy-thanksgiving-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":0},"title":"Wild Turkey Images &#8211; Happy Thanksgiving 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing Wild Turkey images of foraging hens I found in the Stansbury Mountains of northern Utah because it's Thanksgiving Day. It was a lovely day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Wild Turkey hen in the mountains of the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107473,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/23\/jaywalking-wild-turkey-pictures\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":1},"title":"Jaywalking Wild Turkey Pictures","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, while I was in northern Utah I found some jaywalking Wild Turkey hens near some ranchlands, which made me chuckle out loud.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jaywalking hen Wild Turkey, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112035,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/04\/spring-wild-turkey-photos-with-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":2},"title":"Spring Wild Turkey Photos With Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Three years ago by this date I was already taking Wild Turkey photos in the canyons of the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Displaying Wild Turkey tom in spring snow, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97431,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/17\/fall-wild-turkey-hen-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":3},"title":"Fall Wild Turkey Hen Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I spotted this Wild Turkey hen walking on a rusty, metal beam of a dilapidated pole barn and I knew that I had to take images of her.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey hen walking on a rusty metal beam, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-3966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-3966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-3966.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-pole-barn-mia-mcpherson-3966.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107247,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/14\/recent-wild-turkey-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":4},"title":"Recent Wild Turkey Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my three recent trips up into the Wasatch Mountains I have been able to take Wild Turkey images on two of the chilly mornings.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tom Wild Turkey with a really long beard, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":145779,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/21\/wild-turkey-portraits-from-wichita-mountains-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":97652,"position":5},"title":"Wild Turkey Portraits From Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sharing a few Wild Turkey portraits taken last week near a creek at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Comanche County, Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comanche County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comanche County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/comanche-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey close up at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Comanche County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97652","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=97652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}