{"id":97768,"date":"2021-11-29T05:33:16","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97768"},"modified":"2021-11-29T05:36:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:36:40","slug":"remembering-higher-water-in-the-great-salt-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/29\/remembering-higher-water-in-the-great-salt-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Higher Water In The Great Salt Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Green-wingedGreen-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.<\/p>\n

I have excellent memory skills. I can recall each and every time I spot a bird, who I pointed them out to, where they were, and what they were doing. The day I photographed these ducks in the surf of the Great Salt Lake it was icy cold and very windy and the wind had whipped up waves on the lake.<\/p>\n

This location is several miles west of the entrance to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> and several miles east of the island. This image was taken at about the halfway point of the 7 mile causeway when there was enough water in the lake to have waves and surf when the north wind blew in.<\/p>\n

You might wonder why I felt like I had been gut punched when I viewed this photo of the ducks in the surf yesterday.<\/p>\n

It is because there hasn’t been enough water at this location on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake<\/span><\/a> in years<\/strong> for waves to form. From this spot it might be a mile, two miles, or more before there is sufficient water for even a tiny wave to form in a cold north wind now.<\/p>\n

I don’t see ducks in this spot any more and we may never see them there again unless we protect the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

Will we though? Will we save this global treasure? That remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97765,"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":[511,27,2152,1022,1175,429,26],"tags":[4534,4053,4717,4483,1129,126,12597,2113,4070,4005,4294,4359,5993,12596,5178,4062,1137,6968,4903,975,4901,7094,4920,3996,4119],"class_list":["post-97768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-conservation","category-davis-county-utah","category-green-winged-teals","category-northern-shovelers","category-utah","tag-anas-crecca","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-dying-lake","tag-eclipse-plumage","tag-female","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-green-winged-teal","tag-hen","tag-hypersaline-lake","tag-inland-sea","tag-lake","tag-male","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-shoveler","tag-shovelers","tag-spatula-clypeata","tag-surf","tag-teal","tag-teals","tag-water","tag-waves"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pqU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47613,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/08\/dabbling-duck-shuffle-plus-white-geese-become-gray-geese\/","url_meta":{"origin":97768,"position":0},"title":"Dabbling 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32332,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/10\/a-flock-of-northern-shovelers-feeding-on-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":97768,"position":2},"title":"Flock of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last December on the way off of Antelope Island I saw huge flocks of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake and liked how they appeared through my viewfinder.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake. Males in breeding and eclipse plumage along with females","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137772,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/12\/hen-and-drake-northern-shovelers-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":97768,"position":3},"title":"Hen And Drake Northern Shovelers At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Some areas of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge were very ducky yesterday. These hen and drake Northern Shovelers were among the dabbling ducks I found.","rel":"","context":"In "Northern Shovelers"","block_context":{"text":"Northern Shovelers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/ducks\/northern-shovelers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen and drake Northern Shovelers at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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