Photographer and Author

About Mia McPherson

I am Mia McPherson. I became seriously passionate about bird photography while living in Florida. After my move West in 2009 I spent much of my time photographing birds in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and beyond. Now I photograph in primarily in east central Oklahoma and Arkansas. As a nature lover, bird and wildlife photographer, I have a passion for capturing the beauty and grace of birds and wildlife in their natural habitats.
Life is good.

Moon set over the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert

By |October 22nd, 2013|Categories: Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, western skies|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Yesterday while in the West Desert in Tooele County the cirrus clouds appealed to me that fanned out over the Stansbury Mountains.

Western Grebe With A Chick Riding Piggyback

By |October 20th, 2013|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah, Western Grebes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Cute Alert! Whenever I see Western Grebe chicks riding piggyback on their parents I can't help thinking that there is a definite cute factor going on right in front of me.

American White Pelican Lifting Off

By |October 19th, 2013|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This American White Pelican was taking off from a pond near where I live in Salt Lake County and I happened to click the shutter when its wings were extended upwards and when its feet had just slapped the water

Young Great Horned Owl is a Tiger of the Sky in the making

By |October 17th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Glacier County, Great Horned Owls, Montana|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I love the descriptive name "Tiger of the Sky" when referring to Great Horned Owls, they are fierce, fearless and ferocious and the young owl in the image above is a 'Tiger in the Sky" in the making.

Dark Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk On The Wing

By |October 16th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Quite often I don't have much time at all to get ready to take images because you need to get close to the subject, find a good angle of light and make sure your camera settings will produce the best image for the conditions.

Juvenile Burrowing Owl In Utah

By |October 11th, 2013|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Burrowing Owls, Davis County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Burrowing Owls are iconic birds of Antelope Island State Park, I can't tell you how many times people write to me and ask "Where can I see Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island State Park?".

Open our National Parks, Wildlife Refuges and Monuments Now

By |October 10th, 2013|Categories: Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Yesterday on the local news I saw that Governor Herbert offered to fund the reopening of Utah's five National Parks which are Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches and Capitol Reef.

American Barn Owl Butt Shots

By |October 9th, 2013|Categories: American Barn Owls, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I know, I don't have eye contact from my subject which is one of the unspoken rules in bird and wildlife photography but I don't mind bending those rules when it comes to images that I find interesting or appealing.

The Eagle Is Landing

By |October 8th, 2013|Categories: Bald Eagles, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It has been quite some time since I posted a Bald Eagle here so today I present this adult in a landing pose that I photographed in February of 2011 at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.

It Snowed In The Salt Lake Valley Yesterday…

By |October 5th, 2013|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Coyotes, Davis County, Ring-necked Pheasants, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

And it won't be long before I am photographing wildlife in drifts of snow and birds on perches covered in white.

Greater Yellowlegs and Copyright Watermarks

By |October 4th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Copyright Infringement, Copyright Issues, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Greater Yellowlegs, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Which copyright watermark should I use? The small one that doesn't detract from the Greater Yellowlegs or the larger one that would make it harder for image thieves to use?

Photographers Beware – Another Way Our Images are Being Stolen

By |October 3rd, 2013|Categories: American Badgers, Centennial Valley, Copyright Infringement, Copyright Issues, Montana|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

These developers are scum and Google needs to step up to the plate and make sure the apps have legitimate licenses for the images in the apps or disallow the thieves from ever putting them on Google Play.

Female Long-billed Curlew in a Florida lagoon

By |September 28th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Long-billed Curlews|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It has been another very long week so I thought I'd post a female Long-billed Curlew because of her very long bill but unlike the way my week went this curlew is graceful, elegant and serene.

Red-tailed Hawk Juveniles On The Wing

By |September 27th, 2013|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One of the Red-tailed Hawk juveniles I photographed on Antelope Island last year has "migrated" to Switzerland where my photo of it will be featured on a 5 x 15 meter billboard for a yacht company.

Stained and Unstained Sandhill Cranes

By |September 26th, 2013|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Beaverhead County, Birds, Centennial Valley, Montana, Sandhill Cranes, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

A few days ago I saw quite a few Sandhill Cranes starting at just past the Visitors Center for Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, in one of the farmer's fields I saw 11 of them feeding in the freshly tilled soil.

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