{"id":88818,"date":"2021-05-23T05:29:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=88818"},"modified":"2026-03-22T06:27:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:27:48","slug":"trees-shrubs-wildflowers-and-a-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/23\/trees-shrubs-wildflowers-and-a-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees, Shrubs, Wildflowers And A Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent trip to the West Desert sky island mountains in Tooele County<\/span><\/a> I found my lens pointed at trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and a butterfly.<\/p>\n

\"SpringSpring Quaking Aspen leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

I am a student of nature and have been for as long as I can remember. I’ve been interested in flowers, trees, birds, animals, rocks, insects, and everything involved with nature since I was a child.<\/p>\n

I’ve also known all along that everything wild is connected and that I belong in that connection intertwined with the rest of the wild living and nonliving things.<\/p>\n

I photograph and write about what I see, what I know, and what I love. Most of the time my subjects are feathered. Sometimes my subjects are the fresh spring leaves of a tree that catch my eyes.<\/p>\n

\"QuakingQuaking Aspen leaves close up<\/span><\/p>\n

The trembling leaves of a Quaking Aspen in the morning light caught my attention while I watched a nesting cavity in another nearby aspen.<\/p>\n

\"SpringSpring Wax Currant in bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up was a small shrub at the side of the road with pink, trumpet shaped flowers that I know attract hummingbirds. Wax Currants don’t bloom for long so I wanted to take more photos of them to add to my galleries.<\/p>\n

\"CaliforniaCalifornia Tortoiseshell butterfly on blooming Wax Currant<\/span><\/p>\n

I was surprised that there weren’t any hummingbirds nectaring on the currant blossoms. A tattered California Tortoiseshell butterfly flew in and and posed for a few moments among the flowers. When Wax Currants are in bloom butterflies, bees and hummingbirds benefit from their flowers. Later on in the year birds and small mammals will feed on their fruits.<\/p>\n

\"Gray'sGray’s Biscuitroot blooming in a mountain canyon<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearby and down the hill I could see Gray’s Biscuitroot in bloom. There were small bees nectaring on the sunny yellow flowers of the biscuitroot.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale and male cones on a Douglas Fir in spring<\/span><\/p>\n

Up higher in the alpine forest I was excited to see plentiful female and male cones on Douglas Firs. I know that come this autumn there should be Red-breasted Nuthatches in the area feeding on the seeds that are developing inside the female cones.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale and male cones on a Douglas Fir in spring – Outlined<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve pointed out which are the fertile female cones in this photo. The male cones produce the pollen that fertilizes the female cones and once that is completed they will wither and fall to the ground.<\/p>\n

\"DouglasDouglas Fir in spring showing female, male and old cones<\/span><\/p>\n

I liked how this Douglas Fir branch showed the new and old cones together. I may have even photographed a nuthatch last fall feeding on the seeds of the mature cone.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Fir and spring cones<\/span><\/p>\n

The White Firs in the same area are also setting cones. This fir is quite tall and the cones are usually way up at the top which isn’t the best angle for me to photograph birds eating the seeds. Still, I love knowing that they do.<\/p>\n

\"BloomingBlooming Western Waterleaf<\/span><\/p>\n

I also took photos of a blooming Western Waterleaf near the White Fir. I’ve tried to take photos of it before while it was in bloom but the light was awful that day and my images weren’t up to my standards.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Waterleaf in bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

I was pleased with the way my images of the Western Waterleaf turned out last week even though the sun was starting to get high by the time I photographed them.<\/p>\n

\"ChokecherryChokecherry starting to bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

On the way down the mountain I was delighted to see that the chokecherries were starting to bloom. I wasn’t able to detect the sweet, honey-like aroma that I adore because the chokecherry wasn’t in full bloom but I know that I will be smelling their deliciously intoxicating scent soon.<\/p>\n

These are just a few of the non-feathered subjects that caught my eyes last week in the sky island mountains when I wasn’t focused on birds.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent trip to the West Desert sky island mountains in Tooele County I found my lens pointed at trees, shrubs, wildflowers and a butterfly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101814,"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":[11777,5346,358,5345,26,773,5347],"tags":[10502,1919,3803,6627,6098,7353,6041,6042,11779,7708,6879,7534,7159,6877,8009,6909,513,11781,2175,11780,6576,11783,6878,7791,7161,6607,165,4210,4076,7160,7281,11782,10501],"class_list":["post-88818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-california-tortoiseshell-butterflies","category-shrubs","category-tooele-county","category-trees","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","category-wildflowers","tag-abies-concolor","tag-aspen","tag-aspens","tag-bloom","tag-blooming","tag-blossoms","tag-butterflies","tag-butterfly","tag-california-tortoiseshell-butterfly","tag-cone","tag-cones","tag-currant","tag-currants","tag-douglas-fir","tag-fir","tag-firs","tag-grays-biscuitroot","tag-hydrophyllum-occidentale","tag-lomatium-grayi","tag-nymphalis-californica","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-prunus","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-ribes-cereum","tag-shrubs","tag-spring","tag-stansbury-mountains","tag-trees","tag-wax-currant","tag-western-chokecherry","tag-western-waterleaf","tag-white-fir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/california-tortoiseshell-butterfly-wax-currant-blooming-mia-mcpherson-0128-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-n6y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101819,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/26\/california-tortoiseshell-butterfly-and-blooming-fragrant-sumac\/","url_meta":{"origin":88818,"position":0},"title":"California 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Prickly Poppy in a smoky haze at dawn, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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of the butterflies nectaring on the blooms of the Wax Currant bush which included Red Admiral butterflies.","rel":"","context":"In "Red Admiral Butterflies"","block_context":{"text":"Red Admiral Butterflies","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/red-admiral-butterflies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Top view of a Red Admiral Butterfly on a Wax Currant, West Desert, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/red-admiral-butterfly-vanessa-atatlanta-mia-mcpherson-9256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/red-admiral-butterfly-vanessa-atatlanta-mia-mcpherson-9256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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