{"id":2147,"date":"2011-03-26T18:10:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T01:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2147"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:12:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:12:18","slug":"my-wish-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/03\/26\/my-wish-list\/","title":{"rendered":"On My Wish List – Sagebrush Sparrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some women wish for diamonds, some men wish for fast cars, while young children might wish for a pony or a trip to Disney.<\/p>\n

Me? I wish for birds. Pretty simple, huh? But it is true.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Sagebrush Sparrow – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 250, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

My mother wishes she could win the lottery (who doesn’t?). There are people who wish they lived in a mansion and those who wish they wouldn’t get old. Santa gets his share of wish lists too.<\/p>\n

Seeing & photographing birds gives me joy, peace, excitement, thrills, and breath-taking moments.<\/p>\n

For instance, I wish the Sagebrush Sparrow above had been closer and had turned its head towards me more. I went out to Antelope Island State Park last fall with some non-photographers so I took my Nikkor 70-300mm VR with me instead of my longer lens.<\/p>\n

That was my mistake and I did not have enough focal length to get the shots I wanted. I wish I had taken the 200-400mm VR.<\/p>\n

Some of the birds on my wish list I have yet to photograph plus there are those I have photographed but the bird may have been too far away, or the light sucked, or I messed up the shots.<\/p>\n

My bird wish list for Utah, Montana, Idaho, and surrounding areas this spring and summer is too long to write out here but as long as I am wishing I would love to photograph Whooping Cranes, Garganeys, and a California Condor or two.<\/p>\n

I dream big and I’m always optimistic.<\/p>\n

On serious note though I wish I’d see some American Dippers because they are daring little birds who swim in fast flowing, rocky streams for food which fascinates me.<\/p>\n

Or Black-tailed Gnatcatchers which I have seen and photographed in southern Utah but I couldn’t get a single clear shot of the fast moving little bugger!<\/p>\n

Long-eared Owls have evaded me thus far too along with the handsome Great Gray Owls. Maybe I’ll spot the Great Gray in Montana some time or the tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl. One never knows.<\/p>\n

I wish that I’d have more opportunities with the always\u00a0impressive Ferruginous Hawks (I just love saying Ferruginous!) or Golden Eagles.<\/p>\n

Funny how coming across one poor image of a Sagebrush Sparrow has my head spinning today with wishes for more. But I know that as long as I am wishing for birds that I am rarely disappointed.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

PS: One more wish, I wish there were enough hours in the day so I could get caught up on editing some of the thousands of images I’ve already taken!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some women wish for diamonds, some men wish for fast cars while young children might wish for a pony or a trip to Disney. Me? I wish for birds. Pretty simple, huh?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,482,26],"tags":[4004,2438,970,4021,11978,4620,16899,2437,855,4195,16898,6179],"class_list":["post-2147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-sagebrush-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-artemisiospiza-nevadensis","tag-autumn","tag-bird-photography","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-list","tag-sagebrush-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-wish","tag-wish-list"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sage-sparrow-ground-utah-mia-mcpherson-1517.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-yD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49010,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/17\/antelope-island-sagebrush-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":0},"title":"Antelope Island Sagebrush Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a real treat for me yesterday morning to photograph another Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted it pop up on a clump of greasewood.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Brewer's Sparrows were abundant at the location where I photographed Ospreys close to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir last week and it seemed like they sang every time they popped up on top of the Sagebrush in the area.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Flat"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Flat","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-flat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing Brewer's Sparrow at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/brewers-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-5756.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/brewers-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-5756.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Day and since I love all of the sparrows on the planet I thought I'd share some of the sparrows I have photographed in North America.","rel":"","context":"In "American Tree Sparrows"","block_context":{"text":"American Tree Sparrows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/emberzine-sparrows-allies\/american-tree-sparrows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow in a hackberry tree, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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