alpine forest – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Red-breasted Nuthatch Memories

By Mia McPherson|October 28th, 2025|Categories: Birds, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, alpine forest, autumn, Douglas fir, fall, fir, firs, foraging, forest, hanging, mountains, North Willow Canyon, nuthatch, nuthatches, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, sky island mountains, Stansbury Mountains, upside down, Utah|

The weather has kept me out of the field lately, so today I wanted to share a few Red-breasted Nuthatch memories since I’ve been seeing and hearing them recently.

Violet-green Swallow Photos

By Mia McPherson|May 27th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, Violet-green Swallows, West Desert|Tags: adult, alpine forest, branch, branches, canyon, female, flight, flying, forest, guarding, male, mountains, nesting cavity, scuffling, sky, sky island mountains, spring, swallow, swallows, Tachycineta thalassina, Tooele County, tree, trees, tussling, Utah, Violet-green Swallow, west desert|

Yesterday I was able to take the Violet-green Swallow photos that I have been dreaming of since I first moved to Utah in 2009.

Photographing Nesting Williamson’s Sapsuckers

By Mia McPherson|April 6th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Targhee National Forest, Williamson's Sapsuckers|Tags: adult, alpine forest, aspen, challenges, characteristics, fecal sac, female, flight, flying, forest, male, mountains, nest cavity, nest hole, nest tree, nesting cavity, nesting season, nesting tree, ornithological history, photographing, sapsucker, sapsuckers, sawdust, sexually dimorphic, Williamson's Sapsucker, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

For one and a half wonderful nesting seasons I was thrilled to photograph a pair of mated Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nest and tending to their young.