{"id":34816,"date":"2016-01-14T06:42:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T13:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34816"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:25:18","slug":"an-adult-sage-thrasher-with-prey-on-public-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/14\/an-adult-sage-thrasher-with-prey-on-public-land\/","title":{"rendered":"An Adult Sage Thrasher With Prey On Public Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SageSage Thrasher and its prey – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to admit that I am having a hard time focusing lately in part due to the situation at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and because of the other attempts to grab public land in the West. We need to keep America’s public lands in public hands.<\/p>\n

The state of Utah couldn’t afford one<\/em> year of fire fighting efforts if it was to take public lands from us so they would sell off public lands to the highest bidders. Of that I have NO doubt.<\/p>\n

I photograph a lot on public lands in the West Desert and I don’t want to be restricted from accessing those areas, I don’t want the rest of the people of this country being restricted from using those lands either.<\/p>\n

This adult Sage Thrasher with prey was photographed on public lands in Tooele County in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains<\/span><\/a> last July.<\/p>\n

I was able to pull my Jeep off to the side of the gravel road and photograph this adult from my “mobile blind” as it found prey for one of its young without disturbing it.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAn adult Sage Thrasher and a grasshopper – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/250, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Stansbury Mountain range contains the Deseret Peak Wilderness<\/span><\/a>, is part of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest<\/span><\/a> and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands and who knows what would happen if the state of Utah took control of it.<\/p>\n

Oh why bother pretending I don’t know? I do know what would happen to this land.<\/p>\n

It would be sold to the highest bidder, gates would be installed, the land would be ravaged, and we wouldn’t have access. That is exactly<\/em> what the money-grubbing, fill their own pockets, Republicans in Utah would do to it.<\/p>\n

People use this area for leased grazing cattle, recreation, hiking, mountain biking, camping, bird watching, wildlife viewing,\u00a0 photography, and more.\u00a0 We need to do everything we can to keep this land in public hands to protect and preserve it for the wildlife in the area and for future generations.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

This adult Sage Thrasher with prey was photographed on public lands in Tooele County in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains last July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162914,"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":[27,103,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,4430,3940,4098,4738,4164,4104,4106,4877,4003,4613,735,4878],"class_list":["post-34816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-sage-thrashers","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-barbed-wire","tag-canyon","tag-desert","tag-grasshopper","tag-oreoscoptes-montanus","tag-perched","tag-prey","tag-public-lands","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers","tag-uinta-wasatch-cache-national-forest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-93y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26835,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/22\/west-desert-wanderings-thrashers-and-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":34816,"position":0},"title":"West Desert Wanderings – Thrashers and Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I went wandering in the West Desert of Utah yesterday because the views are always great and because I hoped to find a few birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sage Thrasher with prey in Tooele County, West Desert, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/13\/looking-for-my-first-of-year-sage-thrasher\/","url_meta":{"origin":34816,"position":1},"title":"Looking For My First Of Year Sage Thrasher","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"March 13th is an anniversary of sorts for me. The date is the earliest that I have seen and photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah.","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":"Fluffy Sage Thrasher adult warming up on a rock, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104808,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/07\/sage-thrasher-in-riparian-habitat\/","url_meta":{"origin":34816,"position":2},"title":"Sage Thrasher In Riparian Habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Towards the end of last month I found a Sage Thrasher high in the mountains in riparian habitat which surprised me. A lot.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sage Thrasher in riparian habitat, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21014,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/22\/sage-thrashers-and-the-rapidly-disappearing-sea-of-sage\/","url_meta":{"origin":34816,"position":3},"title":"Sage Thrashers and the Rapidly Disappearing Sea of Sage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Can the disappearance of Sagebrush Seas be stopped? Yes, it could be but we need lawmakers that believe in science and act on it.","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":"Sage Thrasher in golden light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-5676.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-5676.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-5676.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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island.","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":"Preening Sage Thrasher on a thin branch, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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