uncommon – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

My Uncommon Common Grackle Sighting Anniversary

By Mia McPherson|2023-11-30T16:16:18-06:00November 30th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Common Grackles, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: adult, bill, Common Grackle, Glover Pond, grackle, grackles, male, open, perched, Quiscalus quiscula, Russian Olive, uncommon, uncommon at location, winter|

Today is the third anniversary of my uncommon Common Grackle sighting in Utah. I found the grackle perched in a Russian Olive tree next to Glover Pond.

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Surprise Swamp Sparrow At Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|2022-11-02T03:14:23-05:00November 1st, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Swamp Sparrows, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, fall, foraging, marsh, Melospiza georgiana, phragmites, phrags, rare, rear view, sparrow, sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, uncommon, wetlands|

At Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning, I was surprised to find a Swamp Sparrow near the far southern corner of the auto tour loop.

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California Darner Dragonfly In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|2022-07-05T04:46:12-05:00July 5th, 2022|Categories: California Darners, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Black Twin Berry, Black twinberry honeysuckle, California Darner, canyon, darner, darners, dragonflies, dragonfly, honeysuckle, insects, Lonicera involucrata, mountains, odonata, resting, Rhionaeschna californica, riparian habitat, summer, uncommon, wildflower|

On the 26th of June I had a darner dragonfly land on a honeysuckle in front of me, that dragonfly was a California Darner.

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2020 Photographic Year In Review

By Mia McPherson|2024-04-04T16:03:29-05:00December 31st, 2020|Categories: Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Bushtits, Common Loons, Cooper’s Hawks, Desert Tarantulas, Eastern Kingbirds, Elk, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles, Gray Catbirds, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Green-tailed Towhees, Merlins, Mountain Bluebirds, Nashville Warblers, Northern Harriers, Pine Siskins, Red Foxes, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Red-tailed Hawks, Ring-billed Gulls, Rusty Blackbirds, Short-eared Owls, Townsend's Solitaires, Uinta Ground Squirrels, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, West Desert, Wild Turkeys, Wildflowers, Yellow Warblers|Tags: 5.7 earthquake, blackbirds, bluebirds, catbirds, coronavirus, eagles, Elk, fox, ground squirrels, gulls, harriers, hawks, herons, hummingbirds, kingbirds, loons, Merlin, owls, rare birds, red tailed hawks, siskins, tarantula, towhees, turkeys, uncommon, wablers, year in review|

This is my 2020 photographic year in review. I'm selecting some of my favorite photos from 2020 and a few that just make me happy to see them.

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Finding Two Uncommon Birds In One Week – Rusty Blackbird And Common Grackle

By Mia McPherson|2023-11-30T03:43:46-06:00December 5th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Common Grackles, Davis County, Rusty Blackbirds, Utah|Tags: adult, blackbird, blackbirds, Common Grackle, Euphagus carolinus, Glover Pond, grackle, grackles, male, nonbreeding plumage, perched, pond, Quiscalus quiscula, rare, Russian Olive, Rusty Blackbird, sighting, uncommon, uncommon at location, water, winter|

Finding two uncommon birds this week at the same olive tree really has me buzzed and to finally see a Rusty Blackbird has made me feel like jumping over the moon.

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Photographing My First Green Heron In Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|2023-10-16T08:27:04-05:00September 24th, 2020|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Green Herons, Long-tailed Weasels, Utah|Tags: adult, American White Pelican, Butorides virescens, duckweed, Green Heron, half blind, hatch year bird, heron, herons, immature, Long-tailed Weasel, marsh, missing eye, Mustela frenata, one-eared, one-eyed, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, pelican, pelicans, rare, standing, sub-adult, subadult, uncommon, wading birds, water, weasel, weasels|

It was a terrific "season opener" for me yesterday thanks to my keen observation skills at Farmington Bay WMA with a Green Heron, one-eared Long-tailed Weasel and a one-eyed American White Pelican.

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Hovering Northern Harrier Plus My Lifer Harris’s Sparrow

By Mia McPherson|2023-09-16T04:55:34-05:00March 20th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Harris's Sparrow, Northern Harriers, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Circus hudsonius, grassy field, harrier, harriers, Harris's Sparrow, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, hovering, lifer, Northern Harrier, rare, sparrow, sparrows, uncommon, Zonotrichia querula|

In some shrubs next to Glover Pond I saw two sparrows and the one that quickly drew my eye was a lovely first winter Harris's Sparrow, jackpot, a lifer!

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Western Bluebirds in Tooele County

By Mia McPherson|2023-02-24T07:00:09-06:00February 25th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Western Bluebirds|Tags: adult, bluebird, bluebirds, desert, female, fence, fence post, foothills, front view, male, migrating, migration, perched, rare, rarity, Sialia mexicana, sky, uncommon, Western Bluebird|

Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.

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