eyes – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Wilson’s Snipe Photos Plus Two Interesting Facts About These Shorebirds

By Mia McPherson|2024-04-18T15:10:40-05:00April 19th, 2024|Categories: Birds, Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Wilson's Snipes|Tags: adult, bottomlands, close up, eyes, field of vision, Gallinago delicata, gular fluttering, leg, Lower Scarborough Slough, nearly 360 degree field of vision, portrait, roadside, shorebirds, slough, snipe, snipes, spring, standing, Wilson's Snipe|

Recently, I've had a couple of opportunities to photograph a Wilson's Snipe in the Lower Scarborough Slough at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.

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Female Great-tailed Grackle With Her Eyes Aglow

By Mia McPherson|2024-04-05T04:27:44-05:00April 5th, 2024|Categories: Birds, Great-tailed Grackles, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, aglow, blackbird, blackbirds, close up, eyes, female, glow, grackle, grackles, Great-tailed Grackle, portrait, Quiscalus mexicanus, spring, urban|

When I was at my local pond two days ago, I couldn't resist photographing a female Great-tailed Grackle whose eyes seemed to be aglow in the morning light.

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Common Loon – Seeing Red

By Mia McPherson|2023-09-08T02:40:44-05:00April 25th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Common Loons, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, breeding plumage, Common Loon, eyes, Gavia immer, loon, loons, park, pond, red, reflections, spring, urban, waterbirds|

This morning I'm sharing a Common Loon photo that I took two days ago. I enjoy how the red eyes of the loon were echoed in the reflections on the water.

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Female Great-tailed Grackle Iris Variation

By Mia McPherson|2023-04-23T04:45:59-05:00April 23rd, 2023|Categories: Birds, Great-tailed Grackles, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, blackbirds, close up, eye, eyes, female, First Spring, grackle, grackles, Great-tailed Grackle, iris, park, portrait, Quiscalus mexicanus, Salt Lake County, spring, urban, Utah, variation|

While I photographed Common Loons at my local park this month I also took some female Great-tailed Grackle images and today I am sharing two of them.

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Squirrel Appreciation Day 2023

By Mia McPherson|2023-01-21T03:29:03-06:00January 21st, 2023|Categories: Summit County, Uinta Ground Squirrels, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, canyon, closed, dozing, eyes, ground squirrel, ground squirrels, mountains, spring, squirrel, Squirrel Appreciation Day, squirrels, Uinta Ground Squirrel, Urocitellus armatus|

Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day around the globe. Love them, or hate them, there is no denying that they are fun, fascinating, beguiling, fuzzy creatures!

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Immature Ferruginous Hawk In December

By Mia McPherson|2023-11-24T03:56:36-06:00December 23rd, 2022|Categories: Birds, Ferruginous Hawks, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: autumn, birds of prey, Buteo regalis, Buteos, clouds, desert, eyes, fall, Ferruginous Hawk, flight, flying, foothills, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, lifting off, light morph, raptors, sky, taking off, young|

I was overjoyed to see an immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk in my viewfinder four years ago in December while I was out in Utah's West Desert.

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How I Found A Flock Of Clark’s Nutcrackers Yesterday

By Mia McPherson|2022-04-26T09:48:15-05:00October 2nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Clark's Nutcrackers, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: autumn, birding instincts, canyon, Clark's Nutcracker, corvids, Douglas fir, ears, eyes, fall, fir, firs, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, mountains, Nucifraga columbiana, nutcracker, nutcrackers, paying attention, Pseudotsuga menziesii, skills, sky island mountains, tree, trees, Utah Juniper|

My eyes and my birding instincts didn't lead me astray because there was a Clark's Nutcracker perched at the top of the fir.

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Winter American Coot Close Up

By Mia McPherson|2022-10-02T05:04:12-05:00December 14th, 2019|Categories: American Coots, Birds, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Coot, bill, close up, coot, coots, eyes, frontal shield, Fulica americana, ivory, knob, low light, pond, portrait, red, winter|

When the American Coots come close to me I am also able to take portraits of them that show their red eyes and their ivory colored bills with their reddish-brown frontal shields.

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Aspen Eyes – Where Trees Appear To Gaze At The World Around Them

By Mia McPherson|2024-02-18T14:10:53-06:00June 17th, 2018|Categories: Clark County, Idaho, Summit County, Targhee National Forest, Trees, Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest, Utah|Tags: aspen, aspen eyes, aspens, branches, eyes, forest, montane forest, Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspens, self pruning, tree, trees|

I love seeing the Aspen eyes of the forest upon me and I find myself happy to photograph them whenever I can.

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Short-eared Owl Preening Session

By Mia McPherson|2021-03-03T16:07:08-06:00May 30th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Short-eared Owls, Utah|Tags: adult, Asio flammeus, auditory canal, birds of prey, contorted, ear canal, eyes, male, owls, Owls of Utah, preening, preening gland, Short-eared Owl, squinting, talons, uropygial gland|

I was able to see and photograph a long Short-eared Owl preening session where I could see the owl's ear canal, uropygial gland and some extremely interesting and twisted poses.

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Ghost Crab at Fort De Soto County Park

By Mia McPherson|2021-06-10T04:16:44-05:00December 6th, 2015|Categories: Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Ghost Crabs, Pinellas County, Wildlife|Tags: beach, burrows, carrion, coast, coastal, crab, crabs, eyes, eyestalks, Ghost Crab, gills, Gulf Coast, Gulf of Mexico, intertidal areas, marine animals, Ocypode quadrata, Ocypodinae, predators, prey, sand, sea life, water, water's edge, waves|

I am not sure why this particular Ghost Crab was out of its burrow during the day but I was happy that I had the opportunity to photograph it.

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Black-tailed Jackrabbit with odd colored eyes

By Mia McPherson|2021-12-26T03:48:16-06:00April 17th, 2015|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Black-tailed Jackrabbits, Utah|Tags: adult, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, eyes, grasses, jackrabbit, jackrabbits, Lepus californicus, odd colored eyes, wildlife|

This Black-tailed Jackrabbit was near the first one and as I photographed it I realized that its eye color was odd because they are much paler and has a slight greenish hue to them.

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More Barn Owl images

By Mia McPherson|2021-08-30T16:25:38-05:00February 11th, 2013|Categories: Barn Owls, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: adult, Barn Owl, birds of prey, close up, eyes, flight, flying, hill, marsh, owl, owls, Owls of Utah, perched, pole, snow, talons, Tyto alba, wetland, winter|

Perched Barn Owl images might not be as dynamic as those when the owl's are in flight but I enjoy how this shows the owls' shape, plumage patterns, the profile of the face and just a hint of blood on the owl's bill.

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