{"id":93281,"date":"2021-08-15T06:40:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T12:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=93281"},"modified":"2025-11-10T13:58:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:58:59","slug":"willow-flycatcher-plus-info-on-the-parleys-canyon-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/15\/willow-flycatcher-plus-info-on-the-parleys-canyon-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Willow Flycatcher Plus Info On The Parleys Canyon Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WillowWillow Flycatcher with honeysuckles in the background \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I was up in the Wasatch Mountains when I photographed this Willow Flycatcher on a beautiful sunny morning. Things can change fast in the intermountain west though because yesterday a wildfire started in the canyon I use to access the mountains where I took images of this flycatcher.<\/p>\n

I-80 runs east\/west through Parleys Canyon<\/span><\/a> and just after 1 pm a catalytic convertor ejected hot particles along the roadside which started the #ParleysCanyonFire<\/span><\/a>. Strong winds and tinder dry conditions due to our ongoing drought caused the wildfire to rapidly explode up the mountain slopes. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was at home when the fire started and even miles away down in the Salt Lake Valley the smoke plume could easily be seen<\/span><\/a>. I could see it from home.<\/p>\n

\"ParleysParleys Canyon Fire – 08-14-2021<\/span><\/p>\n

About 6,000+ homes to the east of the wildfire were evacuated. I-80 came to a standstill and it is a major east\u2013west transcontinental freeway. Traffic was backed up for miles.<\/p>\n

\"ParleysParleys Canyon Fire 3:14 pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Sitting at home I could view the UDOT traffic cams of the area and I was absolutely horrified by how rapidly the wildfire spread.<\/p>\n

\"ParleysParleys Canyon Fire 4:19 pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Tankers from as far away as Idaho, Montana, and Oregon dumped load after load of fire retardant on the wildfire until sunset last night. One of the tankers is from Australia and that crew has been here in the U.S. helping to battle our numerous wildfires in the west this season.<\/p>\n

The wildfire season here in the west has been horrific this year and I kept hoping that the Wasatch Mountains would escape the fires. Each time I go into the mountains I have worried about having a wildfire up there though because every thing has been so horribly dry this year, drier and hotter than any year since I have been in Utah. I always keep an eye on the sky to look for smoke during the wildfire season no matter where I am in the field.<\/p>\n

By nightfall the Parleys Canyon Fire was estimated to have reached between 2,500 to 3,000 acres and was zero percent contained. The winds died down and hopefully overnight the fire didn’t spread as rapidly. I don’t know what will happen today with this fire. I do know that in the mornings there can be canyon winds and that won’t help the firefighters that have spent the night in the mountains battling this fire.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how long it will be before I will travel up into the mountains to find birds to photograph because of this wildfire.<\/p>\n

I do know that when I travel up Parleys Canyon again that my eyes are going to leak wet stuff on my cheeks when I see the burn scar. I have no doubt about that. I love those mountains and the birds and wildlife I find there.<\/p>\n

\"ParleysParleys Canyon Fire – Aug 15 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

As I write this it is still too dark for me to see what is going on using the UDOT traffic cams<\/span><\/a>. I really don’t know what to expect this morning. I can see plenty of smoke in the canyon.<\/p>\n

Update<\/span>: Night crews on the #ParleysCanyonFire reported minimal overnight for behavior. No accurate mapping yet, but ground truthing reports the acreage close to 1,500 acres.<\/p>\n

Update<\/span> 3:15 pm August 15, 2021: After more accurate aerial flights were conducted, the blaze was mapped at 619 acres \u2014 less than half the ground truthing estimate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Utah wildfire forces thousands of homes to evacuate as the nation’s largest fire in California rages<\/span><\/a> – CNN<\/p>\n

Parleys Canyon Fire home, business evacuations to be reevaluated Sunday<\/a><\/span> – KUTV<\/p>\n

Fast-moving fire in Parleys Canyon reaches 2,500 acres; thousands of homes evacuated<\/a><\/span> – KSL<\/p>\n

6,000+ homes evacuated due to human-caused wildfire in Parleys Canyon<\/span><\/a> – Fox13<\/p>\n

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

I-80 runs east\/west through Parleys Canyon and just after 1 pm a catalytic convertor ejected hot particles along the roadside which started the #ParleysCanyonFire. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163368,"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":[27,4594,26,773,3805],"tags":[12083,4004,6603,3940,3807,5241,5301,3808,4884,6608,9360,12085,5537,6600,4069,12084,4104,9626,2315,298,4176,5302,3806],"class_list":["post-93281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","category-willow-flycatchers","tag-parleyscanyonfire","tag-adult","tag-black-twinberry-honeysuckle","tag-canyon","tag-empidonax-traillii","tag-empids","tag-fire","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-honeysuckle","tag-honeysuckles","tag-i-80","tag-interstate","tag-lonicera-involucrata","tag-mountains","tag-parleys-canyon","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-summer-3","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-wildfire","tag-willow-flycatcher"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willow-flycatcher-honeysuckle-background-4546.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ogx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103623,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/25\/creekside-willow-flycatcher\/","url_meta":{"origin":93281,"position":0},"title":"Creekside 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a story behind these Dusky Flycatcher photos that I took earlier this week while I sat in my Jeep next to a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wary Dusky Flycatcher, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/dusky-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1524.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/dusky-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1524.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/dusky-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1524.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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