taking off – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Adult And Immature Cedar Waxwings High In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2024-03-30T15:29:34-05:00August 27th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Cedar Waxwings, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, berries, berry, Bombycilla cedrorum, Cedar Waxwing, clouds, framed, immature, juvenile, lift off, lifting off, perched, serviceberries, seviceberry, sky, take off, taking off, Utah Serviceberry, waxwing, waxwings, young|

On August 10th I drove into the mountains for a quiet, relaxing morning and came away with quite a few bird photos I have yet to process.

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Immature Eastern Kingbirds At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|2023-03-23T15:21:08-05:00August 19th, 2020|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Eastern Kingbirds, Utah|Tags: barbed wire, Common Sunflower, Eastern Kingbird, fence, flight, flycatcher, flycatchers, flying, hawking, Helianthus annuus, immature, insects, kingbird, kingbirds, lift off, lifting off, refuge, summer, sunflowers, take off, taking off, Tyrannus tyrannus, tyrant flycatchers, wildflowers, yellow wildflowers, young|

I only had two minutes with these immature Eastern Kingbirds and I felt I had to make every second I had with them in my viewfinder count. I succeeded.

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Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird In A Strong Breeze Plus A Favorite Perch

By Mia McPherson|2021-02-12T07:11:13-06:00May 13th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Morgan County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: behavior, branch, breeze, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, calling, colorful, favorite perch, gorget, hummingbird, hummingbirds, landing, male, mountains, perched, preference, Selasphorus platycercus, specific locations, stiff, strong, take off, taking off, tongue, upright, year after year|

When the male Broad-tailed Hummingbird had had enough of getting bounced around he took off in a hurry with the wind fluffing up his upper chest feathers and the right side of his colorful gorget.

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Adult Male Red-winged Blackbird Take Off

By Mia McPherson|2024-03-01T05:12:50-06:00March 4th, 2020|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Red-winged Blackbirds, Utah|Tags: adult, Agelaius phoeniceus, blackbird, blackbirds, lift off, male, marsh, mountains, phrags, Promontory Mountains, Red-winged Blackbird, snow covered, snowy, take off, taking off|

I took this photo of an adult male Red-winged Blackbird taking off this morning with the distant snow covered Promontory Mountains in the background.

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Snowy Egrets Foraging, Fighting, Landing And Lifting Off

By Mia McPherson|2021-05-21T04:23:47-05:00September 25th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: adult, defensive posture, duckweed, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, flight, foraging, land, landing, marsh, pond, Snowy Egret, taking off, ticked off, wading bird, wading birds, wetlands, wings raised|

These nine Snowy Egret photos are just a fraction of the images I took of a small flock of these snowy, white birds with golden slippers yesterday morning on the marshes of Farmington Bay WMA.

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More Photos Of The Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female

By Mia McPherson|2024-04-02T11:20:17-05:00April 1st, 2019|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, desert, female, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lift off, lifting off, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, rufous, rufous morph, sagebrush, spring, taking off|

I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.

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Photographing My First of the Year American White Pelicans

By Mia McPherson|2021-04-09T18:42:56-05:00February 16th, 2019|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: American White Pelican, back view, first of year, flight, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, pelican, pelicans, photograph, photographing, reflections, splashing, taking off, Wasatch Mountain, winter, winter sky|

I drove up to Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning because it looked like there was going to be some nice light and because the forecast for the next week looks rather dismal for bird photography and I'm so very glad I went because I was able to photograph my first of the year American White Pelicans.

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Canada Goose Lift Off Series Plus More Photos of the Canada x Snow Goose Hybrid

By Mia McPherson|2024-02-13T06:17:04-06:00December 21st, 2016|Categories: Birds, Canada Geese, Hybrid Geese, Salt Lake County, Snow Geese, Utah|Tags: Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, Canada x Snow Goose, feed, flight, geese, hybrid, hybridization, lift off, lifting off, pond, running start, speed, take off, taking off, urban, white head, white-headed, winter|

Yesterday morning at my local pond I took a series of images of a Canada Goose lifting off plus more photos of the Canada x Snow Goose hybrid I found there.

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Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a conifer in Idaho

By Mia McPherson|2022-12-12T04:16:00-06:00September 17th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Red-tailed Hawks|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, conifer, D500, hawks, Hawks of Idaho, juvenile, lift off, Red-tailed Hawk, spruce, take off, taking off|

I was able to fire a burst of shots showing the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a conifer and liked the second and third shots in the series the most.

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Mountain Bluebird female – Hopping into Monday

By Mia McPherson|2024-03-24T03:48:10-05:00July 7th, 2014|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Centennial Valley, Montana, Mountain Bluebirds, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge|Tags: adult, bluebird, bluebirds, female, fence post, hopping, leaping, lift off, lifting off, Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides, summer, take off, taking off, thrushes, valley, wooden post|

Some times when I am photographing I capture my subjects in funny poses and I think I did exactly that with this Mountain Bluebird female.

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American White Pelican lifting off

By Mia McPherson|2023-11-13T03:22:18-06:00October 19th, 2013|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, caruncle, flight, flying, lift off, lifting off, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, pelican, pelicans, pond, take off, taking off, water, white pelicans|

This American White Pelican was taking off from a pond near where I live in Salt Lake County and I happened to click the shutter when its wings were extended upwards and when its feet had just slapped the water

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