{"id":99489,"date":"2022-01-31T05:17:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T12:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=99489"},"modified":"2022-01-31T13:32:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T20:32:40","slug":"first-winter-common-merganser-on-the-bear-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/31\/first-winter-common-merganser-on-the-bear-river\/","title":{"rendered":"First Winter Common Merganser On The Bear River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FirstFirst winter Common Merganser on the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On my last two trips up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> I’ve stopped long enough to photograph a first winter Common Merganser on the Bear River. I haven’t been seeing Common Mergansers on the ponds close to where I live or anywhere in northern Utah in large numbers. These diving ducks are birds I usually only see during the colder months of the year and I have been missing them.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Common Mergansers didn’t need to fly this far south so far this winter to find open water and food. I really don’t know why I am not seeing as many of them as I typically do during the winter. Consequently when I have seen Common Mergansers this winter my hope has been to get them in my viewfinder and take a few images of them before they fly off.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Common Merganser floating by \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This first winter Common Merganser has been cooperative both times I have see him. I’ve been able to take photos of the young drake paddling around, floating by and looking wonderful in the morning light shining on him and the river.<\/p>\n

There are still a few weeks of winter left before spring arrives and these mergansers take off for their breeding grounds. I hope that a few show up at my local pond so that I can relax and enjoy observing and photographing them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

On my last two trips up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I’ve stopped long enough to photograph a first winter Common Merganser on the Bear River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,476,26],"tags":[4529,976,4753,4483,1129,126,2450,4067,4062,4094,4705,4704,4239,4378,958,5558,3996,2063,4095,373,4193],"class_list":["post-99489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-common-mergansers","category-utah","tag-bear-river","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-first-winter","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-morning","tag-reflections","tag-river","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t