{"id":38209,"date":"2016-04-12T05:33:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=38209"},"modified":"2025-11-06T16:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:00:41","slug":"sage-thrasher-wing-flutter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/12\/sage-thrasher-wing-flutter\/","title":{"rendered":"Sage Thrasher Wing Flutter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SageSage Thrasher wing flutter – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 320, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I came across this image yesterday that I took one day shy of a year ago while looking for another image in my files and thought that I would post it today because I like the wing position.<\/p>\n

The Sage Thrasher had been preening on top of a rabbitbrush and seemed to have lost its grip on the bush and fluttered one wing to regain its balance.<\/p>\n

I have been wondering if I was going to miss the Sage Thrashers displaying because they have been here in northern Utah for a while now.<\/p>\n

Bad weather has kept me out of the field far more than I would like but I checked my archives and I was still photographing them displaying later than this date last year. So hopefully I will still be able to photograph them exhibiting their courtship behaviors.<\/p>\n

On another note, I am getting closer to completing the move of my images from my old galleries to my new improved galleries.<\/p>\n

I have moved over 5400 images and right now I have about 892 more to go. A large portion of my time has been consumed by reprocessing images that had my old watermark without my name to the new one that has my name.<\/p>\n

I hope to have the move finished soon. I’m honestly tired of it and want some of my free time back.<\/p>\n

By the way, the Antelope Island<\/span><\/a> no-see-ums, aka biting gnats, are back and they bit me up yesterday. Time for insect repellent and keeping my head covered with a hat. Nasty bugs.<\/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":"

I came across this image yesterday that I took one day shy of a year ago while looking for another image in my files and thought that I would post it today because I like the wing position. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162948,"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":[511,1022,103,26],"tags":[4004,11978,2659,4164,4289,4003,165,4613,735,5079,11093],"class_list":["post-38209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-sage-thrashers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-desert-island","tag-fluttering","tag-oreoscoptes-montanus","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-spring","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers","tag-wing","tag-wing-flutter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-wing-mia-mcpherson-6314.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9Wh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36791,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/06\/sage-thrasher-in-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":38209,"position":0},"title":"Sage Thrasher in Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't get to see Greater Sage Grouse on my recent trip to southern Utah but I did get a few brief looks at another sagebrush obligate when a single Sage Thrasher popped up into view.","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-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.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-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-3497.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22234,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/20\/sage-thrasher-bilateral-wing-display-and-courtship-behavior\/","url_meta":{"origin":38209,"position":1},"title":"Sage Thrasher Bilateral Wing Display and Courtship Behavior","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had my best opportunities thus far this year to photograph Sage Thrasher courtship behavior and bilateral wing displays on Antelope 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":"Sage Thrasher Bilateral Wing Display, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8579.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-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8579.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8579.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8579.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":38209,"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":100621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/13\/looking-for-my-first-of-year-sage-thrasher\/","url_meta":{"origin":38209,"position":3},"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, 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Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"While on Antelope Island yesterday I was able to photograph these two Sage Thrashers in two different locations with one perched on Sagebrush and the other on Rabbitbrush.","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 with a peachy background, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sage-thrasher-high-key-mia-mcpherson-9394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sage-thrasher-high-key-mia-mcpherson-9394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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