{"id":48164,"date":"2017-08-19T06:26:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-19T12:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48164"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:15:08","slug":"antelope-island-willow-flycatcher-perched-on-a-twig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/19\/antelope-island-willow-flycatcher-perched-on-a-twig\/","title":{"rendered":"Antelope Island Willow Flycatcher Perched On A Twig"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-163296 size-full\" title=\"Willow Flycatcher perched on a twig, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308.jpg\" alt=\"Willow Flycatcher perched on a twig, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Willow Flycatcher perched on a twig &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>All summer long I have heard Willow Flycatchers up in some of the Wasatch Mountain Canyons but had been unable to capture quality images of them. They were always too far away but I did enjoy hearing them whenever I was around them.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the song of a Willow Flycatcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/246802\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Some birds are already on the move or getting staged for migration and I realized yesterday that Willow Flycatchers are heading down from the high country creeks, streams, lakes, wet meadows and other riparian areas where there are willows and that they will soon head south to Mexico, Central and South America for the winter.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I was able to photograph a single <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Willow_Flycatcher\/id\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Willow Flycatcher<\/span><\/a> out on the island that was hawking for insects, a few times it came out into the open and I took advantage of that to capture some of my only images of Willow Flycatchers this year.<\/p>\n<p>There were two other birds I saw yesterday on Antelope Island that I typically do not see down in the valley except during migration.<\/p>\n<p>The first was a female or young MacGillivray&#8217;s Warbler which breed in Utah that was foraging for insects from some greasewoods. While I watched that warbler I also spotted a Townsend&#8217;s Warbler foraging in the greasewoods too, they do not breed in Utah but migrate through here.<\/p>\n<p>Ready or not there are signs that fall migration is underway.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good. Birds are great.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/willow-flycatcher-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Willow Flycatcher photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All summer long I have heard Willow Flycatchers up in some of the Wasatch Mountain Canyons but had been unable to capture quality images of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163296,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,26,3805],"tags":[4004,3807,5241,5290,3808,4884,4067,530,4104,6046,3806],"class_list":["post-48164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-willow-flycatchers","tag-adult","tag-empidonax-traillii","tag-empids","tag-fall-migration","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-immature","tag-migration","tag-perched","tag-twig","tag-willow-flycatcher"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-5308.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cwQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103623,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/25\/creekside-willow-flycatcher\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":0},"title":"Creekside Willow Flycatcher","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This creekside Willow Flycatcher photo was a highlight and my favorite photo that I took yesterday while I was high in the mountains looking for birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Creekside Willow Flycatcher, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/willow-flycatcher-perched-by-creek-mia-mcpherson-1232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/willow-flycatcher-perched-by-creek-mia-mcpherson-1232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/willow-flycatcher-perched-by-creek-mia-mcpherson-1232.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/willow-flycatcher-perched-by-creek-mia-mcpherson-1232.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/30\/willow-flycatcher-and-thoughts-about-fall-migration\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":1},"title":"Willow Flycatcher And Thoughts About Fall Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I took forty-eight photos of this flycatcher three days ago as it watched for flying insects from its perch and I realized that these might be the last Willow Flycatcher photos that I take this year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willow Flycatcher hunting prey from a willow perch, Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-a-willow-mia-mcpherson-7699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-a-willow-mia-mcpherson-7699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-a-willow-mia-mcpherson-7699.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-a-willow-mia-mcpherson-7699.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104467,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/23\/willow-flycatcher-in-july\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":2},"title":"Willow Flycatcher In July","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent a few minutes with a cooperative adult Willow Flycatcher in a willow thicket high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willow Flycatcher on a July morning, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/willow-flycatcher-adult-in-july-mia-mcpherson-7074.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/willow-flycatcher-adult-in-july-mia-mcpherson-7074.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/willow-flycatcher-adult-in-july-mia-mcpherson-7074.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/willow-flycatcher-adult-in-july-mia-mcpherson-7074.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24990,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/06\/05\/a-willow-flycatcher-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":3},"title":"Willow Flycatcher On Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Early last week while photographing Western Kingbirds I also had the opportunity to photograph a Willow Flycatcher that was hanging around the same area on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willow Flycatcher on Antelope Island, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-adult-mia-mcpherson-4360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-adult-mia-mcpherson-4360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-adult-mia-mcpherson-4360.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-adult-mia-mcpherson-4360.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":68319,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/13\/photographing-willow-flycatchers\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Willow Flycatchers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Once I'm in Willow Flycatcher habitat the next thing I do is to listen for them. I often hear Willow Flycatchers before I see them because they can blend into their habitat well.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Willow Flycatcher perched on a hawthorn, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6673.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6673.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6673.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6673.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71975,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/16\/adult-willow-flycatcher-perched-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":48164,"position":5},"title":"Adult Willow Flycatcher Perched In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Obtaining decent photos of Willow Flycatchers in the Wasatch Mountains has been harder and more challenging for me this year than last and there are a few reasons for that.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willow Flycatcher perched in a serviceberry shrub, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}