fir – 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.

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Drought-stricken Douglas Firs – How It Is Affecting The Birds That Eat The Seeds

By Mia McPherson|November 7th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, alpine, branch, canyons, cone, cones, Douglas fir, drought, drought conditions, fir, fir tree, fir trees, firs, mature, mountains, nuthatch, nuthatches, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir, seed production, Sitta canadensis, sky island mountains|

When I was out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah a few days ago I was again met with virtual silence in and around the Douglas Firs that are there.

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My Growing Concerns Over This Years Crop Of Douglas Fir Seeds Because Of Our Drought

By Mia McPherson|October 24th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Mountain Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, alpine, autumn, branch, checking out, chickadee, chickadees, cone, cones, Douglas fir, eating, fall, feeding, fir, fir tree, fir trees, firs, foraging, mature, Mountain Chickadee, mountains, needles, nuthatch, nuthatches, Poecile gambeli, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir, scales, seed, seeds, Sitta canadensis, sky island mountains, spot, sunlight, trees|

My trip out into the sky island mountains of the West Desert last week caused my concerns about this years crop of Douglas Fir seeds to grow.

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Snow Dusted Views Of Utah’s West Desert Mountains

By Mia McPherson|October 14th, 2021|Categories: Tooele County, Trees, Utah, West Desert|Tags: Abies concolor, autumn, canyon, cone, cones, Douglas fir, dusted, fall, fir, firs, ice, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, landscape, mountains, peaks, Pseudotsuga menziesii, rabbitbrush, rock, rocks, sage, sagebrush, sky, snow, snowy, tree, trees, Utah Juniper, views, water droplet, White Fir|

I saw snow on Utah's West Desert mountains for the first time since late spring so I thought I'd share a few views of what I saw while out there yesterday morning.

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How I Found A Flock Of Clark’s Nutcrackers Yesterday

By Mia McPherson|October 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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Poppies, Birds, Trees, Butterflies And A Smoky Haze

By Mia McPherson|August 5th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Flatbud Prickly Poppy, Red-tailed Hawks, Tooele County, Trees, Utah, Weidemeyer's Admiral Butterflies, West Desert, Wildflowers|Tags: Abies concolor, admiral, admirals, adult, Argemone munita, birds of prey, bloom, blooming, branch, Buteo jamaicensis, butterflies, butterfly, cone, cones, creek, dawn, desert, Douglas fir, fir, firs, flowering, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, juvenile, Limenitis weidemeyerii, mountains, native, poppies, poppy, Prickly Poppy, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, puddling, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir, sky, sky island mountains, smoky, smoky haze, summer, tree, trees, Weidemeyer's Admiral, White Fir, white wildflowers, wildflowers, young|

The first time I raised my lens yesterday morning it was for blooming Prickly Poppies that were along the shoulder of the bumpy gravel road.

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Trees, Shrubs, Wildflowers And A Butterfly

By Mia McPherson|May 23rd, 2021|Categories: California Tortoiseshell Butterflies, Shrubs, Tooele County, Trees, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: Abies concolor, aspen, aspens, bloom, blooming, blossoms, butterflies, butterfly, California Tortoiseshell butterfly, cone, cones, currant, currants, Douglas fir, fir, firs, Gray's Biscuitroot, Hydrophyllum occidentale, Lomatium grayi, Nymphalis californica, Populus tremuloides, prunus, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quaking Aspen, Ribes cereum, shrubs, spring, trees, Wax Currant, Western Chokecherry, Western Waterleaf, White Fir|

On a recent trip to the West Desert sky island mountains in Tooele County I found my lens pointed at trees, shrubs, wildflowers and a butterfly.

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Kinglets And Turkeys Plus One Scrub-Jay

By Mia McPherson|October 9th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Wild Turkeys, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: Abies concolor, adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, canyon, close up, Corthylio calendula, creek, desert, dry wash, fir, firs, hen, jay, jays, kinglet, kinglets, Meleagris gallopavo, mountains, peeking, perched, portrait, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky island mountains, tree, turkey, turkeys, upland terrestrial birds, wash, White Fir, Wild Turkey, willows, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.

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Photographing Red-breasted Nuthatches Isn’t Easy

By Mia McPherson|October 6th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, canyon, cone, cones, conifer, Douglas fir, fir, firs, forest, mountains, nuthatch, nuthatches, photographing, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, sky island mountains, Utah|

Red-breasted Nuthatches aren't easy to photograph because they are tiny, they move quickly and their flight patterns are fairly unpredictable. Finding the right habitat, their habitat, can make it fun.

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Red-breasted Nuthatch And Juniper Titmouse Photos

By Mia McPherson|April 22nd, 2020|Categories: Birds, Juniper Titmouses, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, Baeolophus ridgwayi, call, clouds, cone, cones, conifer, Douglas fir, early morning light, evergreen, fir, firs, juniper, Juniper Titmouse, male, morning, nuthatch, nuthatches, perched, Pseudotsuga menziesii, recording, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, sky, spring, titmice, titmouse, titmouses|

These are the stories behind how I took these Red-breasted Nuthatch and Juniper Titmouse photos while relaxing and enjoying a lovely day in the West Desert.

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Focusing On Photographing Foraging Mountain Chickadees

By Mia McPherson|November 19th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Mountain Chickadees, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: branches, canyon, chickadee, chickadees, cones, Douglas fir, feeding, fir, focusing, foraging, forest, hanging, juniper, Mountain Chickadee, mountains, photograph, photographing, Poecile gambeli, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir, seeds, sky island mountains, trees|

Two mornings ago a small flock of Mountain Chickadees came in to forage on the seeds in some Douglas Fir trees and I had fun trying to keep up with the small dynamos.

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