{"id":98436,"date":"2021-12-25T05:59:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T12:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=98436"},"modified":"2021-12-25T06:26:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T13:26:22","slug":"christmas-day-bird-photos-through-the-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/25\/christmas-day-bird-photos-through-the-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Day Bird Photos Through the Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_98444\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98444\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-98444\" title=\"Christmas Day Bird Photos Through the Years\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Day Bird Photos Through the Years\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20800%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-66x66.jpg 66w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-800x800.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/christmas-bird-photos-2009-2020-large-mia-mcpherson.jpg 1078w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-98444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christmas Day Bird Photos Through the Years<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I wrote such a long post yesterday about the <a title=\"Happy Holidays 2021 And A Story From Christmas Past\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/24\/happy-holidays-2021-and-a-story-from-christmas-past\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ice storm I went through in 1998<\/span><\/a> and how that storm made me pick up a camera that created a passion in me that led me to where I am today that I thought I would keep my Christmas Day post short, sweet, and full of birds.<\/p>\n<p>These are all birds I have photographed on Christmas Day through the years and all of them were photographed at Farmington Bay WMA. I didn&#8217;t plan that, it just happened that these were the photos that I picked randomly.<\/p>\n<p>From the sub-adult Bald Eagle in 2009 through the hatch year Great Blue Heron in 2020 I felt joy being out in the field with each of these birds on Christmas morning. Sure, it was cold, Christmas falls during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere after all. Some Christmas Day trips into the field I had gorgeous light but there were times that it was snowing, blowing, and so foggy I couldn&#8217;t see birds at a distance.<\/p>\n<p>Photographing birds on Christmas Day became my tradition before I even moved to Utah. I also photographed birds in Christmas Day when I lived in Florida on the Gulf coast&#8217;s warm, sandy beaches.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve missed a few mornings photographing birds on Christmas Day a couple of years because of inclement weather. Will I miss today? I&#8217;m not sure yet. I may go out, I may stay home. Chances are that I will decide that in the next hour or so. The birds are there no matter what I decide.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Merry Christmas One and All! I hope your day is filled with love, peace, and your loved ones. If you can&#8217;t be with your loved ones then I hope you feel their love.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/birds\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in my galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These are all birds I have photographed on Christmas Day through the years and all of them were photographed at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98441,"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":[151,27,476,1022,697,166,449,26],"tags":[4004,4117,846,2663,976,4753,12652,3903,3133,4052,4122,3984,2161,3987,12651,4152,4033,627,626,4067,4094,4705,4704,4239,4104,4394,153,4209,4018,4050,4509,9461,4427,3996,4095,373,4193],"class_list":["post-98436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bald-eagle","category-avian","category-common-mergansers","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-blue-herons","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-bald-eagle","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-duck-ducks","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-foggy","tag-four-year-old","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-haks","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-hawk","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-subadult","tag-tree","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/great-blue-heron-christmas-day-birds-mia-mcpherson-3114.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pBG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76531,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/25\/christmas-day-bird-photos-thru-the-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":0},"title":"Christmas Day Bird Photos Thru The Years","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I wanted to share some of the Christmas Day bird photos I have taken through the years out in the field and close to home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas Day snow storm and a Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-7454.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":77816,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/15\/photographing-winter-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":1},"title":"Photographing Winter Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Coots&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye displaying, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110602,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/01\/hen-common-merganser-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":2},"title":"Hen Common Merganser At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I photographed this hen Common Merganser in a small spot of open water next to an ice shelf at Bear River MBR. It was a very cold morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Hen Common Merganser flapping her wings next to an ice shelf, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/common-merganser-winter-ice-hen-mia-mcpherson-3163.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/common-merganser-winter-ice-hen-mia-mcpherson-3163.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/common-merganser-winter-ice-hen-mia-mcpherson-3163.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/common-merganser-winter-ice-hen-mia-mcpherson-3163.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76590,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/26\/five-bird-photos-from-christmas-day-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":3},"title":"Five Bird Photos From Christmas Day 2020","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Much to my delight I was able to photograph some birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male American Kestrel on a wooden post, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-post-mia-mcpherson-3511.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-post-mia-mcpherson-3511.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-post-mia-mcpherson-3511.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-post-mia-mcpherson-3511.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110264,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/15\/great-goldeneye-merganser-showdown-who-won-the-shad\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":4},"title":"Great Goldeneye-Merganser Showdown: Who Won the Shad?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Bear River MBR I saw and photographed a Goldeneye-Merganser showdown where the prize that was being fought over was a shiny shad.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Common Merganser chasing a Common Goldeneye with a shad, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-goldeneye-drake-common-merganser-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-3502.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35466,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/10\/a-bathing-common-merganser-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":98436,"position":5},"title":"Bathing Common Merganser at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There isn't much open water right now but in a few places where it is open it attracts waterfowl including this bathing Common Merganser male in breeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Bathing Common Merganser male in breeding plumage at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern 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