{"id":24282,"date":"2015-05-22T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=24282"},"modified":"2025-05-22T16:02:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T21:02:49","slug":"a-mourning-dove-in-the-stansbury-mountains-and-a-few-bonus-short-eared-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/22\/a-mourning-dove-in-the-stansbury-mountains-and-a-few-bonus-short-eared-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourning Dove in the Stansbury Mountains and a few bonus Short-Eared Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MourningMourning Dove perched on an old fence post – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The West Desert was beckoning yesterday, a bit of sunshine, a touch of new snow on the tops of the Stansbury Mountains and after all the cloudy skies we have had here who could resist getting out to soak it all in before the next storm front arrives? Not me.<\/p>\n

I saw that the Red-tailed Hawks have at least three chicks in their nest which excites me and that the slopes have greened up from all the rain we have had.<\/p>\n

When I spotted this Mourning Dove perched on an old fence post in the morning light I couldn’t resist photographing it.<\/p>\n

\"MourningMourning Dove in the Stansbury Mountains – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The greenish-grays of the junipers and sagebrush in the background against the warmer tones of the dove’s plumage delighted me and for a change the dove didn’t fly off immediately when I focused on it through my viewfinder. It even preened and fluffed up.<\/p>\n

\"MourningMourning Dove in morning light – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Mourning Doves are native to North America with soothing “cooaHOO coo coo<\/span><\/a>” call they can be found in every state of the Continental U.S. and parts of Mexico and Canada. There are times I worry about our native doves because of the invasion of the non-native Eurasian Collared Doves which are larger and more aggressive. I guess we will all have to see how that plays out.<\/p>\n

\"TooeleTooele County Short-eared Owl – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

A nice bonus surprise yesterday was finding a few Short-eared Owls near the James W Fitzgerald WMA in Tooele County<\/span><\/a>. There was one female and at least 3 males in the area not far from the road, there may have been one more male but after turning around and backtracking to get better light I can’t be certain that it wasn’t one of the males I had seen a few minutes earlier.<\/p>\n

It has been a while; too long in my opinion, since I have seen Short-eared Owls here in Utah. This photo isn’t great but I loved seeing this female Short-eared yesterday perched on a post close to the road.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mourning Dove photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I spotted this Mourning Dove perched on an old fence post in the morning light I couldn’t resist photographing it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146109,"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":[27,3762,1189,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[4114,2663,3763,3764,898,1190,3967,294,4353,4104,4394,3971,8917,1191],"class_list":["post-24282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-james-w-fitzgerald-wma","category-mourning-doves","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-dove","tag-doves","tag-fence-post","tag-mourning-dove","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-wooden-post","tag-zenaida-macroura"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mourning-dove-tooele-mia-mcpherson-3729.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-6jE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102657,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/26\/west-desert-mourning-dove-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":24282,"position":0},"title":"West Desert Mourning Dove Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing three simple Mourning Dove images that I took two days ago out in the sky island mountains of Utah's West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mourning Dove in a light breeze, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mourning-dove-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-8149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mourning-dove-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-8149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The heat of summer has turned the green grasses brown on Antelope Island State Park so I thought I'd share some of the \"brown birds\" I photographed there yesterday.","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 Burrowing Owl lifting off from rabbitbrush, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2064.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2064.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was sitting at my desk yesterday afternoon, when the sun was shining a bit, I heard one of the sounds of spring: Mourning Dove calls outside my window.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Mourning Dove on an old fence rail, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mourning-dove-old-fence-rail-mia-mcpherson-5123.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mourning-dove-old-fence-rail-mia-mcpherson-5123.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mourning-dove-old-fence-rail-mia-mcpherson-5123.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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