{"id":9942,"date":"2013-10-22T05:24:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T11:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9942"},"modified":"2026-04-13T14:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:21:27","slug":"moon-set-over-the-stansbury-mountains-of-the-west-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/22\/moon-set-over-the-stansbury-mountains-of-the-west-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon set over the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-174656 size-full\" title=\"Willow Canyons of the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918.jpg\" alt=\"Willow Canyons of the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"569\" data-id=\"9940\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20569%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918-400x268.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918-600x402.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Willow Canyons of the West Desert &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f16, 1\/250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm at 18mm<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t resist taking images of mountains, deserts and the big skies over them especially when the cloud formations are interesting. Yesterday while in the West Desert in Tooele County the cirrus clouds appealed to me that fanned out over the Stansbury Mountains. The moon was about to set when I took this image and it is visible to the left of the clouds and just above the mountains.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-174659 size-full\" title=\"Moon setting over Tooele County, West Desert, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927.jpg\" alt=\"Moon setting over Tooele County, West Desert, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"569\" data-id=\"16121\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20569%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27569%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927-400x268.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927-600x402.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-utah-mia-mcpherson-6927.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/>Moon setting over the Stansbury Mountains &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f16, 1\/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 18-200mm at 112mm<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I zoomed in on the moon and the mountains in the distance for this image. Some of the snow that fell high on the Stansbury Mountains is still visible and it won&#8217;t be terribly long until there is quite a bit more.<\/p>\n<p>Bird photography has been very slow for me of late but I always seem to find something in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/west-desert\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my West Desert photos plus facts and information about the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday while in the West Desert in Tooele County the cirrus clouds appealed to me that fanned out over the Stansbury Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174656,"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":[1316,358,26,1314,836],"tags":[970,195,2372,4620,4674,2373,225,2374,4069,519,4035,6910,343,2817,4057,10452,4076],"class_list":["post-9942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-western-skies","tag-autumn","tag-canyons","tag-cirrus-uncinus","tag-fall","tag-junipers","tag-mares-tail","tag-moon","tag-moon-set","tag-mountains","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-peaks","tag-photography","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-trees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-willow-canyons-mia-mcpherson-6918.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2Am","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96080,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/10\/october-west-desert-views-of-clouds-mountains-and-the-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":0},"title":"October West Desert Views Of Clouds, Mountains, And The Moon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I wanted to share these photos of some West Desert views of clouds, mountains, and the moon because I'd like to be out there seeing and photographing them all.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Stansbury Mountains&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"October West Desert view, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-october-view-mia-mcpherson-6909.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":161892,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/10\/28\/red-breasted-nuthatch-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":1},"title":"Red-breasted Nuthatch Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The weather has kept me out of the field lately, so today I wanted to share a few Red-breasted Nuthatch memories since I\u2019ve been seeing and hearing them recently.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch foraging in the Stansbury Mountains of Utah, West Desert, Tooele County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48059,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/11\/when-the-birds-are-slow-in-utah-there-is-always-great-scenery\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":2},"title":"When the Birds are Slow In Utah There is Always Great Scenery","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Finding birds was very challenging yesterday in the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains but it wasn't hard to find beauty in the scenery.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Stansbury Mountains&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stansbury Mountains and wild sunflowers, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sunflowers-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7365.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sunflowers-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7365.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sunflowers-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7365.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sunflowers-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7365.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108170,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/21\/west-desert-dark-morph-ferruginous-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":3},"title":"West Desert Dark Morph Ferruginous 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140996,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/02\/male-rough-legged-hawk-surveying-the-foothills-of-the-stansbury-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":4},"title":"Male Rough-legged Hawk Surveying The Foothills Of The Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been four years since I photographed this gorgeous male Rough-legged Hawk as he surveyed the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains in Utah's West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Rough-legged Hawk in the West Desert of Utah, Tooele County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137565,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/28\/wild-turkey-images-happy-thanksgiving-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":5},"title":"Wild Turkey Images &#8211; Happy Thanksgiving 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing Wild Turkey images of foraging hens I found in the Stansbury Mountains of northern Utah because it's Thanksgiving Day. It was a lovely day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Wild Turkey hen in the mountains of the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.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\/9942","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=9942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}