Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Burrowing Owls – Loved to Death?

By Mia McPherson|March 14th, 2011|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Burrowing Owls, Davis County, Harassment, Nesting Birds, Utah, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette|Tags: adult, Athene cunicularia, Burrowing Owl, flight, juveniles, nature, owl, owls, perched, wildlife ethics|

What made me sick was that there were three of those people tromping around the owl's burrow. I mean RIGHT up on it. They had no need to be that close but they were.

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Bye bye Blackbirds? The USDA is killing birds with DRC-1339

By Mia McPherson|January 30th, 2011|Categories: Birds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Davis County, European Starlings, Florida, Great-tailed Grackles, Pinellas County, Red-winged Blackbirds, Salt Lake County, Utah, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette, Yellow-headed Blackbirds|Tags: Agelaius phoeniceus, Antelope Island State Park, avicide, blackbird, blackbirds, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bye bye Blackbird, DRC-1339, Euphagus cyanocephalus, European Starling, Great-tailed Grackle, mass bird deaths, mass bird die off, Molothrus ater, poisoned, poisons, Red-winged Blackbird, Salt Lake County, Sturnus vulgaris, USDA, Wildlife Services, Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus|

Recently the USDA accepted responsibility for a smaller die off in South Dakota which brought to light a little known program called "Bye bye Blackbird" which uses DRC-1339, a poison that is also called an avicide.

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Nesting Black-billed Magpies

By Mia McPherson|November 22nd, 2010|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Davis County, Nesting Birds, Utah, Wildlife Ethics|Tags: adult, behavior, Black-billed Magpie, ethics, Greasewood, magpie, magpies, nest building, nesting, nesting behavior, nesting habits, nesting material, Pica hudsonia|

If I had not been paying attention to the first magpie's activity and behavior I would have missed the opportunity to photograph these birds and their nesting habits over the next several weeks.

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This Mule Deer is not a “dumb animal”

By Mia McPherson|October 24th, 2010|Categories: Captive killing - large game, Elk, Moose, Mule Deer, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette|Tags: canned hunts, captive hunts, Elk, fairchase, game farms, hunting ethics, large game, Moose, Mule Deer, nature photography, nature photography ethics, not a dumb animal, private game preserves, Utah, wildlife, wildlife photographer, wildlife photography|

The truly dumb animals are the people who install high fences on private property to cage large game animals inside and then for enormous fees encourage and allow other dumb animals to shoot captive animals and call it hunting.

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Four Eyes For Bird Photography

By Mia McPherson|October 4th, 2010|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Davis County, European Starlings, Loggerhead Shrikes, Utah, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette|Tags: bird photography, Black-billed Magpie, ethics, European Starling, Lanius ludovicianus, Loggerhead Shrike, magpie, magpies, nesting, nesting ethics, nesting material, perched, Pica hudsonia, shrike, shrikes, starling, starlings, Sturnus vulgaris|

One photographer might have better vision and be able to spot birds that the other person may not have seen. Four eyes are better than two.

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Burrowing Owl juveniles

By Mia McPherson|August 16th, 2010|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Burrowing Owls, Davis County, Utah, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette|Tags: adult, Athene cunicularia, Burrowing Owl, desert island, funny, grooming, immature, juvenile, juveniles, owl, owls, parallaxing, photography, preening, silly, summer, yawning|

If you have never had the opportunity to photograph Burrowing Owl juveniles I would suggest you find a burrow and be prepared to laugh yourself silly.

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Nesting American Oystercatchers

By Mia McPherson|August 14th, 2010|Categories: American Oystercatchers, Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Nesting Birds, Pinellas County, Wildlife Ethics|Tags: adult, American Oystercatcher, bird ID, brooding, coastal habitat, eggs, ethics, Haematopus palliatus, nest, nesting, nesting behavior, nesting ethics, oystercatcher, oystercatchers, saltwater, sand dune, scrape, Sea Purslane, settling, shorebirds, wildlife ethics|

Nesting American Oystercatchers create simple scrapes on coastal beaches, dunes and salt marshes to lay their eggs in. They usually lay between 2-3 eggs around April to May.

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