blooms – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

My 2022 Year In Review

By Mia McPherson|December 31st, 2022|Categories: American Kestrels, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Box Elder County, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Golden Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Horned Grebes, Morgan County, Northern Yellow Warblers, Ring-billed Gulls, Rock Wrens, Ruffed Grouse, Tundra Swans, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Western Warbling-Vireos|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, American Kestrel, Aquila chrysaetos, autumn, background, berries, Bewick's Swan, bill, birds of prey, Black-billed Magpie, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Bonasa umbellus, boulder, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Bubo virginianus, building, canyon, close up, corvids, Cygnus columbianus, Cygnus columbianus bewickii, Davis County, desert, dirt, eagle, eagles, Falco sparverius, falcon, falcons, fall, farmlands, female, fledgling, flight, flock, flowering, flowering shrub, flying, forest edge, fruiting shrub, fruits, fruting shrubs, Golden Eagle, gorget, Great Horned Owl, grebe, grebes, grouse, gull, gulls, Horned Grebe, hummingbird, hummingbirds, immature, juvenile, kestrel, kestrels, Larus delawarensis, lichen, lores, magpie, magpies, male, marsh, mountains, nest, nest box, nesting, nonbreeding plumage, Northern Yellow Warbler, owl, owls, perched, Pica hudsonia, Podiceps auritus, raptors, rare, reflection, Ring-billed Gull, riparian habitat, road, roadside, rock, Rock Wren, rocks, Ruffed Grouse, Salpinctes obsoletus, Selasphorus platycercus, serviceberries, serviceberry, Setophaga aestiva, shrub, spring, stink-eye, summer, swan, swans, thicket, tree, Tundra Swans, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, vagrant, warbler, warblers, water, waterbirds, waterfowl, wetlands, willow, willow thicket, willows, winter, winter plumage, wood-warbler, wood-warblers, wren, wrens, young|

On this last day of the year it is time for my annual 2022 Year in Review post. In some ways 2022 has been great for me and in others not so good.

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Wildflowers I Photographed In 2022

By Mia McPherson|December 29th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Blue Elderberry, Box Elder County, Chicory, Common Mullein, Common Sunflowers, Curlycup Gumweed, Davis County, East Canyon, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Flatbud Prickly Poppy, Gray’s Biscuitroot, Hound’s Tongue, Lewis’s Flax, Longleaf Phlox, Morgan County, Mountain Goldenbanner, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, Purple Loosestrife, Roundleaf Snowberry, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Scarlet Gilia, Showy Milkweed, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Purple Geraniums, Summit County, Tooele County, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Western Chokecherry, White Water Crowfoot, Wood's Rose|Tags: Aster, Beardtongue, blooming, blooms, Blue Elderberry, Blue Flax, Chicory, Common Mullein, Common Sunflower, Curlycup Gumweed, Flatbud Prickly Poppy, flowering, flowers, Gray's Biscuitroot, Houndstongue, Lewis's flax, Longleaf Phlox, Mountain Goldenbanner, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, Penstemon, Prickly Poppy, Purple Loosestrife, Roundleaf Snowberry, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Scarlet Gilia, Showy Milkweed, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Purple Geranium, Utah Serviceberry, Western Chokecherry, White Water-crowfoot, wildflower, wildflowers, Woods' Rose|

This morning I wanted to share some of the wildflowers I photographed in 2022. Birds are my primary subjects yet I simply can't resist focusing on wildflowers.

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Summer Can Kiss My Asters

By Mia McPherson|September 18th, 2022|Categories: Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah, Wildflowers|Tags: Aster, aster family, Asters, blooming, blooms, blossoms, close up, flowering, purple wildflowers, roadside, summer, wildflowers|

The flowers of fall have started to bloom. I don't know which species of asters are in these photos that I took at Farmington Bay.

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Common Sunflower Photos

By Mia McPherson|August 21st, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Common Sunflowers, Utah|Tags: bee, bees, Blister Beetle, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Cantharidin, Common Green Bottle Fly, Common Sunflower, European Skipper, Flesh Fly, flies, flowering, fly, Helianthus annuus, hugs, Long-horned Bee, Lucilia sericata, marsh, midge, midges, native, Sarcophagidae, skipper, skipper butterflies, skippers, summer, sunflower, sunflowers, Thymelicus lineola, Tribe Eucerini, wetlands, wildflowers, yellow wildflowers, Zonitis sayi|

This morning I wanted to share my recent Common Sunflower photos from Bear River MBR and some of the insects that pollinate these native wildflowers.

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Request For Grasshopper Identification

By Mia McPherson|July 24th, 2022|Categories: Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildlife|Tags: bee, blooming, blooms, blossoms, canyon, close up, Common Mullein, European curculionid weevil, flowering, Genus Melanoplus, grasshopper, grasshoppers, Gymnaetron tetrum, identification, instar, introduced, mountains, mullein, mulliens, native, native bee, nonnative, North American Spur-throated Grasshoppers, nymph, Spur-throated Grasshopper, summer, Verbascum thapsus, weevil, weevils, yellow wildflowers|

I have struggled for the past four days trying to identify a bright green grasshopper nymph that I found on a Common Mullein up in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Female American Goldfinch With Thistles

By Mia McPherson|July 22nd, 2022|Categories: American Goldfinches, Birds, Musk Thistle, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, American Goldfinch, aphids, blooming, blooms, blossoms, canyon, Carduus nutans, female, finch, finches, flowering, goldfinch, goldfinches, mountains, Musk Thistle, nonnative, perched, perching, pink wildflowers, Spinus tristis, summer, thistle, thistles, wildflowers|

Right after I photographed a juvenile Lazuli Bunting two days ago a female American Goldfinch landed in a patch of thistles in front of me.

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Early July Wildflowers In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|July 16th, 2022|Categories: Blue Elderberry, Morgan County, Musk Thistle, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Purple Geraniums, Summit County, Utah, Washington County, Wood's Rose|Tags: Arnica longifolia, bee, beetles, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Blue Elderberry, buds, canyon, Carduus nutans, Eriogonum heracleoides, Geranium viscosissimum, Lupinus argenteus, mountains, Musk Thistle, Parsnipflower Buckwheat, ravine, Rosa woodsii, rosebuds, Sambucus cerulea, Silvery Lupine, Spearleaf Arnica, Sticky Geranium, summer, wildflowers, Woods' Rose|

I wanted to share some of the wildflowers I photographed in the first part of July that I have found in Summit and Morgan Counties high in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Ornate Checkered Beetle In Sticky Purple Geraniums

By Mia McPherson|July 1st, 2022|Categories: Ornate Checkered Beetles, Sticky Purple Geraniums, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: beetle, beetles, blooming, blooms, blossoms, canyon, flowering, geranium, Geranium viscosissimum, geraniums, insects, mountains, native, Ornate Checkered Beetle, perennial, pink wildflowers, protocarnivorous, purple wildflowers, Sticky Geranium, Sticky Purple Geranium, summer, Trichodes ornatus, wildflower, wildflowers|

When my trips to the field are slow bird-wise there is always something else to focus on. Earlier this week it was an Ornate Checkered Beetle on Sticky Purple Geraniums.

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Blooming Beardtongue Photos From The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 23rd, 2022|Categories: Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: Beardtongue, beardtongues, blooming, blooms, blossom, blue wildflowers, canyon, flowering, Leonard's Beardtongue, Leonard's Beardtongues, mountains, native, Penstemon, Penstemon cyananthus, Penstemon leonardii, penstemons, summer, Wasatch Beardtongues, wildflowers|

Two days ago I focused on wildflowers I found high in the Wasatch Mountains and this morning I am sharing blooming Beardtongue photos from that morning.

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Blooming Scarlet Gilia In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 22nd, 2022|Categories: Scarlet Gilia, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: blooming, blooms, blossoms, canyon, flowering, gilia, Ipomopsis aggregata, mountains, native, red wildflowers, Scarlet Gilia, scarlet trumpet, sky rocket, summer, wildflowers|

Yesterday morning birds were a little slow high in the Wasatch Mountains so I looked for wildflowers to focus on including blooming Scarlet Gilia.

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Some Birds And Blooms From The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 13th, 2022|Categories: American Goldfinches, Birds, Black Twinberry Honeysuckle, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Gray Catbirds, Mallards, Morgan County, Mountain Goldenbanner, Northern Yellow Warblers, Red-tailed Hawks, Song Sparrows, Summit County, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Western Chokecherry|Tags: adult, American Goldfinch, Anas platyrhynchos, babies, bathing, Black twinberry honeysuckle, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, canyon, catbirds, Chokecherry, creek, ducklings, ducks, Dumetella carolinensis, feathers, feed, finches, flowering, gold finches, grasses, Gray Catbird, hummingbirds, Lonicera involucrata, male, Mallard, Melospiza melodia, Mountain Goldenbanner, mountains, native, Northern Yellow Warbler, Prunus virginiana, riparian habitat, Selasphorus platycercus, Setophaga aestiva, singing, Song Sparrow, sparrows, Spinus tristis, Thermopsis montana, tree, warbler, warblers, Western Chokecherry, wet, willows, yellow wildflowers|

This morning I wanted to share some photos of the birds and blooms that I took images of one morning last week while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Two-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly With Serviceberry Blossoms

By Mia McPherson|June 12th, 2022|Categories: Shrubs, Summit County, Two-tailed Swallowtails, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, blooming, blooms, blossoms, butterflies, butterfly, canyon, close up, flowering, flowering shrub, fruiting shrub, mountains, Papilio multicaudata, serviceberry, shrub, spring, Summit County, swallowtail, swallowtails, Two-tailed Swallowtail, Two-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains|

Late last week I stopped my Jeep in the Wasatch Mountains because I spotted a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly resting on a blooming serviceberry shrub.

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Broad-tailed Hummingbird Male Flashing His Gorget

By Mia McPherson|June 7th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Morgan County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, canyon, flowering shrub, forestr edge, fruiting shrub, gorget, gummingbird, hummingbirds, male, mountains, perched, riparian habitat, Selasphorus platycercus, serviceberry, shrub, tree, Utah Serviceberry|

I thought I would share a few photos of a adult male Broad-tailed Hummingbird I took high in the Wasatch Mountains last week as he flashed his gorget.

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Blooming Lewis’s Flax

By Mia McPherson|June 6th, 2021|Categories: Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Wildflowers|Tags: bee, beetle, blooming, blooms, blue wildflowers, desert, drought, flax, flowering, Lewis's flax, Linum lewisii, mountains, prolonged drought conditions, sky island mountains, wildflowers|

I wanted to follow my post about a blue bird with blue wildflowers so here are some photos I took last week of Lewis’s Flax which are also known as Wild Blue Flax.

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Great Blue Heron and Mountain Goldenbanner

By Mia McPherson|June 2nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Great Blue Herons, Morgan County, Small in the frame, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, blooming, blooms, canyon, Filamentous algae, flowering, grasses, Great Blue Heron, heron, herons, Mountain Goldenbanner, mountain meadow, Mountain Thermopsis, mountains, pond, spring, Thermopsis montana, wading birds, water, wildflowers, willows, yellow wildflowers|

Yesterday I wrote about a Golden Eagle in the Wasatch Mountains. Today I am writing about "golden" again. Blooming Mountain Goldenbanner and a Great Blue Heron.

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Spring Male American Goldfinch

By Mia McPherson|May 26th, 2021|Categories: American Goldfinches, Birds, Morgan County, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, American Goldfinch, blooming, blooms, branches, breeding plumage, canyon, Common Dandelion, Dandelion, dandelions, finch, finches, male, mountains, perched, Spinus tristis, Taraxacum officinale, wildflowers, willows, yellow wildflowers|

Yesterday I photographed this male American Goldfinch and thought about how he is as bright as the dandelions that are blooming now in the mountains.

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Pink Wildflowers: Showy Milkweed Buds & Blooms

By Mia McPherson|July 21st, 2020|Categories: Morgan County, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: Asclepias speciosa, blooming, blooms, blossoms, buds, canyon, flower buds, flowering, leaves, milkweed, milkweeds, mountains, native, pink wildflowers, Showy Milkweed, wildflowers|

Once again I missed out on photographing Showy Milkweed at the lower elevations of northern Utah but I made up for it by photographing some of these spectacular pink wildflowers high in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday.

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Blooming Chokecherry Trees In Utah’s Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 8th, 2020|Categories: Summit County, Trees, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: blooms, blossoms, chokecherries, Chokecherry, flowering, flowering tree, flowers, fruit tree, native, Prunus virginiana, spring, tree|

I am not just a bird photographer. I am also a student of nature each and every time I venture into the field because being out there teaches me something new on practically every journey.

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Photographing Cedar Waxwings In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|January 17th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Cedar Waxwings, Morgan County, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, background, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Bombycilla cedrorum, branch, canyon, Cedar Waxwing, close up, flowering, flowers, green, hawthorn, leaves, mountains, perched, photograph, photographing, portrait, spring, summer, trees, Wasatch Mountains, waxwing, waxwings|

For a couple of years now I have enjoyed photographing Cedar Waxwings high up in the Wasatch Mountains from spring through the tail end of autumn.

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Broad-tailed Hummingbird Bliss in The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 1st, 2019|Categories: Birds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Morgan County, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Black Twin Berry, Black twinberry honeysuckle, blooming, blooms, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Buffalo Currant, Clove Currant, currant, currants, feathers, feeding, flight, flying, Golden Currant, honeysuckle, honeysuckles, hovering, hummingbird, hummingbirds, Lonicera involucrata, male, native, nectar, Ribes aureum, Selasphorus platycercus, shaking, shrubs, wildflowers|

I spent yesterday morning enjoying a Broad-tailed Hummingbird bliss in the Wasatch Mountains by finding their favorite perches and photographing them feeding, resting, and defending their territories.

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Rocky Mountain Bee Plant Plus a Bee in Flight

By Mia McPherson|September 5th, 2018|Categories: Box Elder County, Honey Bees, Utah, Wildflowers|Tags: anthers, Apis, bee, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Cleomella serrulata, close up, flight, flowering, flying, green pollen, honey bee, pink wildflowers, pollen, pollen basket, purple wildflowers, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, wildflowers|

On Sunday I was up in Box Elder County looking for birds but I also felt I had to stop and take some images of Rocky Mountain Bee Plants that were blooming along side the road.

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Gray Catbird Plus Blooming Hound’s Tongue Photos

By Mia McPherson|June 9th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Gray Catbirds, Summit County, Utah, Wildflowers|Tags: Beggars-lice, blooms, Boraginaceae, catbird, catbirds, Cynoglossum officinale, Dog’s Tongue, Dogbur, Dumetella carolinensis, Gray Catbird, Gypsy Flower, Gypsyflower, Hounds-tongue, Houndstongue, introduced, log, messy background, mimids, multi-colored, perched, twig, wildflower, wildflowers, Woolmat|

I enjoyed my time yesterday morning photographing the Gray Catbird and the Hound's Tongue in bloom but I really wish I had been as happy with my catbird photos as I am the wildflower images.

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Blooming Gardner’s Yampah in Southwestern Montana

By Mia McPherson|September 25th, 2017|Categories: Beaverhead County, Centennial Valley, Gardner's Yampah, Montana, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge|Tags: blooming, blooms, blossoms, Common Yampah, edible, flowering, food source, Gairdner's Yampah, Gardner's Yampah, Perideridia gairdneri, squawroot, summer, valley, western false caraway, white wildflower, wildflowers|

Earlier this year in July I spent some time in the Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana where I photographed this Gardner's Yampah near Elk Lake.

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Wild Blue Flax in the High Uintas

By Mia McPherson|April 27th, 2014|Categories: High Uintas, Utah, Wildflowers|Tags: blooming, blooms, blue wildflowers, Lewis flax, Lewis's flax, Linum lewsii, mountains, Wild Blue Flax, wildflowers|

I adore the delicacy of the Wild Blue Flax and the sage-green color of the foliage and how they move so gracefully in a breeze.

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