sky island mountains – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Young White-crowned Sparrow Portrait – Peeking Out Of Junipers

By Mia McPherson|2024-02-26T05:19:32-06:00October 4th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, White-crowned Sparrows|Tags: canyon, close up, desert, immature, mountains, portrait, rabbitbrush, sky island mountains, sparrow, sparrows, White-crowned Sparrow, young, Zonotrichia leucophrys|

I didn't get the photos I wanted of the sparrows perched on the rabbitbrush but I like this portrait of the young White-crowned Sparrow in front of it just as well.

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Desert Cottontail Portraits

By Mia McPherson|2021-01-04T10:32:22-06:00October 3rd, 2020|Categories: Desert Cottontails, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: canyon, close up, cottontail, Cottontail Rabbit, cottontails, desert, Desert Cottontail, mountains, portrait, rabbit, rabbits, sky island mountains, Sylvilagus audubonii, Utah|

Last month when I spotted a Desert Cottontail in the mountains of the West Desert I knew I wanted to take photos of the rabbit especially since it was so close that I could take portraits of it.

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Rock Squirrel Close Up In A Fragrant Sumac Shrub

By Mia McPherson|2023-04-11T04:53:09-05:00September 28th, 2020|Categories: Rock Squirrels, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, branch, desert, eye, forest, Fragrant Sumac, grasping, mountains, Otospermophilus variegatus, Rhus aromatica, Rock Squirrel, shrub, sky island mountains, squirrel, squirrels, sumac, sumacs, summer|

The Rock Squirrel was grasping a sumac branch and the shrub was so close to me I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to focus on it.

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Least Chipmunk With a Fly On Its Head – Things That Make Me Laugh

By Mia McPherson|2021-07-13T13:16:30-05:00September 23rd, 2020|Categories: Least Chipmunks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, canyon, chipmunk, chipmunks, Cornus sericea, dogwood, dogwoods, fly, forest, funny, giggled, head, laugh, Least Chipmunk, mountains, Neotamias minimus, Red Osier Dogwood, sky island mountains|

There are times I see funny things while I am out photographing that tickle me so much that I have to laugh out loud and yesterday that was this Least Chipmunk with a fly on its head.

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Warbling Vireo And Fall Colors In The Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2024-03-29T14:36:57-05:00September 22nd, 2020|Categories: Birds, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, Warbling Vireos, West Desert|Tags: Acer negundo, autumn, back lit, Box Elder, canyon, Cornus sericea, desert, dogwood, fall, mountains, perched, Red Osier Dogwood, side lit, sky island mountains, vireo, Vireo gilvus, vireos, Warbling Vireo|

When this Warbling Vireo popped into my view I knew if I wanted to photograph it I had to hurry because these small vireos move fast.

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Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk Photographed In Early Morning Light

By Mia McPherson|2023-11-24T03:22:04-06:00November 24th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Ferruginous Hawks, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: bill, birds of prey, bloody, Buteo regalis, Buteos, dark morph, early morning, early morning light, fence post, Ferruginous Hawk, foothills, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lift off, raptors, resting, sky island mountains|

I photograph birds all the time and there are a few that simply take my breath away and totally mesmerize me, this dark morph Ferruginous Hawk is one of those birds.

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Sharp-shinned Hawk Perched And Preening

By Mia McPherson|2023-10-13T14:24:32-05:00October 19th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: Accipiter striatus, Accipiters, autumn, clouds, desert, fall, fence post, foothills, hawk, hawks, male, molt, molt pattern, mountains, post, raptors, rectrices, Sharp-shinned Hawk, sky island mountains, wooden post|

When it comes to accipiters I see Sharp-shinned Hawks less frequently than I do Cooper's Hawks or Northern Goshawks so when I have a Sharp-shinned Hawk in my viewfinder I become very excited.

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Mule Deer Doe & May Snow In The Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2021-09-10T05:26:08-05:00May 2nd, 2019|Categories: Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: cold, deer, deers, desert, doe, female, juniper, juniper-pinyon communities, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, May, Mule Deer, Odocoileus hemionus, sky island mountains, snow, spring, Utah Juniper, weather|

My best photo of the morning was a Mule Deer doe in a stand of junipers and even then a cloud blocked the beautiful light. Yes, that is snow on the junipers, on May 1st!

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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay in Ophir Canyon

By Mia McPherson|2023-01-11T17:48:43-06:00January 18th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Ophir Canyon, Tooele County, Utah, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, corvids, desert, jay, jays, junipers, pinyon pine, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky island mountains, snow, winter, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

A couple Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays in Ophir Canyon Road in Tooele County were the most cooperative of the jays that I found.

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I am in love with this world

By Mia McPherson|2021-10-10T04:38:08-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: autumn, clouds, desert, fall, foothills, John Burroughs, junipers, moon, mountains, peaks, quote, sage, sagebrush, sky, sky island mountains, snow, trees|

I too have nestled lovingly into this world and climbed its mountains, roamed its forests and sailed its waters.

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Moon set over the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert

By Mia McPherson|2021-10-10T05:50:34-05:00October 22nd, 2013|Categories: Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, western skies|Tags: autumn, canyons, Cirrus uncinus, fall, junipers, mares tail, moon, moon set, mountains, nature, nature photography, peaks, photography, sage, sagebrush, sky island mountains, trees|

Yesterday while in the West Desert in Tooele County the cirrus clouds appealed to me that fanned out over the Stansbury Mountains.

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Mule Deer Doe in the Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2021-08-29T04:26:54-05:00May 7th, 2013|Categories: Mule Deer, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: adult, canyon, desert, doe, female, mountains, Mule Deer, nature photography, Odocoileus hemionus, shedding, sky island mountains, wildlife photography|

I photographed this Mule Deer doe while camping in North Willow Canyon in the Stansbury Mountain Range of Tooele County, Utah.

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