{"id":60311,"date":"2019-09-19T05:32:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T11:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=60311"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:29:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:29:27","slug":"west-desert-views-while-looking-for-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/19\/west-desert-views-while-looking-for-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Views While Looking For Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"StansburyStansbury Mountain Range view – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to share some of the views I see while I am out wandering to look for birds because the scenery and different habitats I see at times are simply spectacular.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I was wandering in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert. The Stansbury Mountain Range is 28 miles long and trend north-south and it is one of the sky island mountain ranges of the West Desert of Utah.<\/p>\n

Deseret Peak is the highest peak in the range at 11,035 feet, a section of that peak is shown in this photo along with the road, blue skies, conifers, deciduous trees, and various shrubs.<\/p>\n

\"CanyonCanyon walls up close – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 20mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In some places the canyon walls are very close to the edge of the road that goes up into the canyons of the mountain range. I’m sure the geology of this area is as fascinating as the history.<\/p>\n

If I would have had more time I would have walked around and touched the rocks. Feeling them with my fingers for me is touching the past, present, and future.<\/p>\n

\"UpUp high in the Stansbury Mountains – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I loved seeing the grand views yesterday, seeing the mountain tops, the creeks, trees, rocks, grasses and the bright blue skies. It was an exploratory trip and I believe I’ve found some places where there should be plenty of birds during the spring but yesterday morning the birds were few, far between and skittish…<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Cooper’s Hawk in bright morning light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Except for one immature Cooper’s Hawk that was perched in the morning sunlight on the bleached out branches of an ancient snag in a canyon. I wish I could have gotten a view without the branch over the young accipiter’s head and the bright twig near its tail but it wasn’t possible. Still, I was happy to see this hawk warming up in the sun.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my West Desert photos plus facts and information about the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like to share some of the views I see while I am out wandering to look for birds because the scenery and different habitats I see at times are simply spectacular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,5715,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[5397,5717,2069,3940,5181,5716,6340,4109,4169,4067,4069,4104,153,2326,4076,909,7732],"class_list":["post-60311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-coopers-hawks","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-accipiters","tag-astur-cooperii","tag-blue-sky","tag-canyon","tag-conifers","tag-coopers-hawk","tag-deseret-peak","tag-grasses","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-road","tag-trees","tag-views","tag-walls"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stansbury-mountain-views-mia-mcpherson-0208.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fGL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50787,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/29\/snow-covered-deseret-peak-and-the-stansbury-mountain-range\/","url_meta":{"origin":60311,"position":0},"title":"Snow-covered Deseret Peak and the Stansbury Mountain Range","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My only keeper images of the morning were a few photos I took of the Stansbury Mountain Range and Deseret Peak and even those weren't that great but I loved seeing the snow-covered mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Stansbury Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snow-covered Deseret Peak in the Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, 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Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly three years have passed since I found, pointed out, and photographed this stunning dark morph Ferruginous Hawk in the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark morph Ferruginous Hawk lifting one foot, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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