looking – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Carolina Chickadee Images From Arkansas

By Mia McPherson|2023-07-27T01:58:11-05:00July 27th, 2023|Categories: Arkansas, Carolina Chickadees, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, Arkansas, bright, Carolina Chickadee, chickadee, chickadees, curious, driftwood, feeder, head tilt, hull, hungry, looking, morning light, perch, perched, Poecile carolinensis, Sebastian County, soft, summer, sunflower, urban, yard|

I was thrilled to take scores of Carolina Chickadee images when I was in Arkansas, from the comfort of my friend Steve Creek's deck while I visited with him.

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Young Bald Eagle Looking Fierce

By Mia McPherson|2024-02-06T03:17:09-06:00February 28th, 2023|Categories: Bald Eagles, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: Bald Eagle, blue, desert, eagle, eagles, Eagles of Utah, fierce, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, looking, perched, pole, power pole, ranchlands, raptors, sky, subadult, winter, young|

Today I'm sharing a photo of a young Bald Eagle who was looking mighty fierce while perched on a power pole that I took last February on a very cold morning.

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Coming Soon: Great-tailed Grackle Breeding Season

By Mia McPherson|2023-02-21T03:48:56-06:00February 21st, 2023|Categories: Birds, Great-tailed Grackles, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, bath, blackbirds, breeding display, close up, display, displaying, duo, feather, female, grackle, grackles, Great-tailed Grackle, Head-Up, intensely, looking, male, park, portrait, preening-tail, Quiscalus mexicanus, Ruff-Out, solo, spring, urban, winter|

On two of my most recent walks I have seen Great-tailed Grackles. Seeing them reminded me that Great-tailed Grackle breeding season is coming soon.

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Leaning Post Bald Eagle

By Mia McPherson|2024-02-06T04:08:26-06:00February 4th, 2023|Categories: Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Utah|Tags: adult, Bald Eagle, birds of prey, eagle, eagles, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, leaning, looking, marsh, perched, post, raptors, stern, tradition, wetlands, winter|

After my recent visit to Bear River MBR I wanted to share photos of a Bald Eagle on a leaning post that can be seen from the road leading to the auto tour loop.

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Immature Rough-legged Hawk, Staring Prey And Feaking

By Mia McPherson|2022-12-15T05:30:05-06:00December 15th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: autumn, birds of prey, Buteo lagopus, Buteos, Davis County, fall, feaking, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, landing, light morph, looking, marsh, nest box, prey, raptors, Rough-legged Hawk, sky, staring, vole, wetlands, young|

This morning I am sharing photos of an immature Rough-legged Hawk, its staring prey, of the bird feaking and a bonus image that shows the tongue of the hawk.

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Immature Red-tailed Hawk With ‘Tude

By Mia McPherson|2022-10-24T05:35:41-05:00October 24th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: 'tude, attitude, autumn, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, desert, fall, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, laughing, laughter, lichen, looking, perception, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, sky, surly, young|

While I was up in far northern Utah last week, the first bird I photographed was this immature Red-tailed Hawk that seemed to have a surly attitude about it.

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Immature Red-tailed Hawk In The West Desert

By Mia McPherson|2023-10-05T04:56:49-05:00September 11th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Red-tailed Hawks, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, feather, fence post, foothills, hawk, hawks, immature, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, looking, morning, perched, preening, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, sky, sky island mountains, soaking up, summer, Tooele County, Utah, Utah Juniper, warmth, west desert, wooden post, young|

Last month while I wandered in the West Desert I found an immature Red-tailed Hawk perched on a wooden fence post in the foothills of some sky island mountains.

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Summer Vesper Sparrow Photos

By Mia McPherson|2022-10-16T04:09:51-05:00July 7th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Summit County, Utah, Vesper Sparrows, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, canyon, feathers, fence post, fluffing, fluffy, itch, looking, mountains, perched, Poocetes gramineus, scratching, singing, sparrow, sparrows, summer, Vesper Sparrow, wooden post|

Today my post is focused on a little brown bird with a wonderful song I photographed yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains. The LBB was a handsome Vesper Sparrow.

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Two Cow Elk Grazing In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2022-09-05T03:28:35-05:00June 27th, 2022|Categories: Elk, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, canyon, Cervus canadensis, cow, eating, Elk, female, grass, grasses, grazing, hillside, looking, mammals, mountains, sage, sagebrush, shrubs, summer|

Yesterday morning I was treated to seeing and photographing two cow Elk grazing on a grass and shrub covered hillside in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Spring Male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

By Mia McPherson|2022-05-14T06:39:43-05:00May 14th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, branch, branches, breeding plumage, curious, desert, flowering tree, gnatcatcher, gnatcatchers, juniper woodland, junipers, looking, male, mountains, perched, Polioptila caerulea, singing, sky island mountains, spring, squinting, tree|

I was thrilled to find and photograph a male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in spring breeding plumage yesterday at the edge of a juniper woodland in Tooele County.

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Four Immature Red-tailed Hawk Portraits

By Mia McPherson|2022-02-12T05:16:20-06:00February 12th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, close up, hawk, hawks, head on, hunting, immature, looking, perched, portrait, prey, ranchlands, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, Utah, wooden post, young|

Two days ago I was able to take a nice series of immature Red-tailed Hawk portraits on my most recent trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

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Four Winter Ring-billed Gull Images

By Mia McPherson|2022-01-17T05:48:06-06:00January 17th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: adult, calm, down, gull, gulls, ice, ice shelf, icy, Larus delawarensis, looking, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, paddling, Ring-billed Gull, standing, water, wetland, winter, year round|

Last week I was just as excited to take Ring-billed Gull images as I was to take photos of a delightful Horned Grebe on the marsh at Bear River MBR.

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Immature Light Morph Ferruginous Hawk

By Mia McPherson|2021-09-22T05:19:38-05:00September 22nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Ferruginous Hawks|Tags: Buteo regalis, Buteos, desert, fence post, Ferruginous Hawk, flight, flying, ground, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, lift off, lifting off, light morph, looking, prey, raptors, summer, sunflowers, take off, taking off, Tooele County, Utah, west desert, wooden post, young|

Yesterday on the last full day of summer I found a couple of hawks in the West Desert including this immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk.

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Messy Orange-crowned Warbler Plus Canada Thistles

By Mia McPherson|2021-08-07T07:30:26-05:00August 7th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Morgan County, Orange-crowned Warblers, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: adult, blooming, branch, Canada Thistle, canyon, Cirsium arvense, damp, down, Leiothlypis celata, Lettuce from hell thistle, looking, mountains, non-native, nonnative, Orange-crowned Warbler, perched, purple wildflowers, riparian habitat, summer, thistle, thistles, warbler, warblers, wildflowers, willow thicket, willows, wood-warblers|

My subject was actually a slightly messy Orange-crowned Warbler perched on a branch looking down at the ground.

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Photographing An Immature Great Blue Heron At Farmington Bay

By Mia McPherson|2022-08-25T07:00:43-05:00November 19th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great Blue Herons, Utah|Tags: Ardea herodias, bank, foraging, Great Blue Heron, heron, herons, immature, looking, marsh, mud, overhead, photographing, rocks, shore, sky, wading birds, water, young|

Three days ago I spotted an immature Great Blue Heron resting at the edge of the water at Farmington Bay WMA and couldn't resist taking photos of it.

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Sub-adult Swainson’s Hawk in Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|2021-03-31T05:52:44-05:00October 29th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Swainson's Hawks, Utah|Tags: back, birds of prey, Buteo swainsoni, Buteos, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, looking, perched, pole, range, raptors, rusty, sub-adult, Swainson's Hawk|

By this time of the year Swainson's Hawks have left Utah and headed towards South America to their wintering grounds but the memories I have of the hawks never leave me.

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Short-eared Owl Photographed in Morning Light

By Mia McPherson|2024-03-21T16:30:47-05:00May 22nd, 2017|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Short-eared Owls, Utah|Tags: adult, Asio flammeus, back, desert, looking, over shoulder, owl, owls, perched, ranchlands, Short-eared Owl|

Two days ago the first bird I put my lens on was a Short-eared Owl perched on a rusty metal post looking over its shoulder in morning light.

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