cliff face – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Save Owls By Not Using Rodent Poisons

By Mia McPherson|April 3rd, 2024|Categories: Barred Owls, Birds, Box Elder County, Great Horned Owls, Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Utah|Tags: adult, anticoagulant rodenticides, baby, Barred Owl, birds of prey, Bubo virginianus, cliff, cliff face, desert, female, fledgling, Great Horned Owl, immature, juvenile, leaves, nest, nesting, owl, owls, raptors, rat poison, rodent poison, rodenticides, secondary poisoning, spring, Strix varia, tree, willow, young|

Since spring's arrival, people will be spending time outdoors, and more people will be seeing rats in their yards and gardens. Owls eat rats and other rodents.

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International Vulture Awareness Day 2023

By Mia McPherson|September 2nd, 2023|Categories: Birds, Black Vultures, Box Elder County, Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Turkey Vultures, Utah|Tags: adult, Black Vulture, bottomland hardwood forests, bottomlands, Cathartes aura, cliff face, Coragyps atratus, desert, foothills, immature, juvenile, lichen, lichens, nest, nesting cavity tree, ranchlands, raptors, rocks, roosting, spring, Steve Creek, summer, tree, Turkey Vulture, vulture, vultures, young|

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2023. I admit to having a soft spot for vultures because they are often misunderstood, and because I tend to stand up for those who have no voice.

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I’m Lichen This Say’s Phoebe

By Mia McPherson|April 20th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Say's Phoebes, Utah|Tags: adult, cliff, cliff face, desert, lichen, lichens, phoebe, phoebes, Say's Phoebe, Sayornis saya, spring|

I photographed this Say's Phoebe yesterday morning way up in northern Utah. There were actually two of the phoebes in the area but this one came in the closest.

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Desert Red-tailed Hawk Photos

By Mia McPherson|October 28th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, Artemisia tridentata, autumn, Big Sagebrush, birds of prey, Box Elder County, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, Celtis reticulata, cliff, cliff face, dark morph, desert, dwelling, fall, hackberries, hackberry, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, leaves, lichen, lift off, lifting off, metal post, Netleaf Hackberry, perched, preparing, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, sage, sagebrush, sky, stony eyed, take off, taking off, Utah, young|

While I was up in far northern Utah looking for birds last week, I took quite a few Red-tailed Hawk photos. I shared one image a few days ago and here are a few more.

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Mourning Doves On Lichen Covered Rocks

By Mia McPherson|May 1st, 2022|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Mourning Doves, Utah|Tags: adult, cliff, cliff face, desert, dove, doves, grass, grasses, lichen, lichen covered, male female, mates, Mourning Dove, pair, rocks, spring, wildflowers, yellow wildflowers, Zenaida macroura|

I had mere seconds to take this photo of a pair of Mourning Doves perched on lichen covered rocks on a desert cliff face in Box Elder County yesterday morning.

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Desert Red-tailed Hawk – It Is Nest Building Time

By Mia McPherson|February 28th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, cold, desert, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, nest, raptors, rebuilding, Red-tailed Hawk, refurbishing, resting, winter|

Among the birds I found was a desert dwelling Red-tailed Hawk adult who was busy refurbishing a nest on a cliff face.

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Dark and light morph Red-tailed Hawk Photos

By Mia McPherson|October 9th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, dark morph, desert, fall, female, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lichen, lichen covered, lift off, light morph, male, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, resting, take off|

I almost missed finding this adult dark morph Red-tailed Hawk last Sunday because when I first spotted the hawk he was behind a tree in dark shadows but I recognized the shape and form of the raptor.

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Immature Light Morph Red-tailed Hawk Plus A Dark Morph Adult

By Mia McPherson|September 19th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, Artemisia tridentata, Big Sagebrush, birds of prey, Box Elder County, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, dark morph, desert, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, lichen, lichens, light morph, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, rock, rock face, rocks, sage, sagebrush, sky, summer, Utah, young|

When I spotted the light colored breast of this immature light morph Red-tailed Hawk from a distance it seemed to glow in the morning light.

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The Price I Paid For These Red-tailed Hawk Chick Photos

By Mia McPherson|June 14th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, chicks, cliff, cliff face, desert, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, juvenile, nest, nestlings, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, spring, young|

Yesterday I went up to northern Utah hoping to take photos of some Red-tailed Hawk chicks that I know will soon be leaving their nest and I found them.

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Mated Red-tailed Hawk Pair

By Mia McPherson|March 22nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteo jamaicensis calurus, cliff, cliff face, female, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, light morph, male, mated pair, mates, morning light, nesting material, pair, perched, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk|

Last week I spotted and photographed a mated Red-tailed Hawk pair on the branches of a tree in front of a cliff in early morning light.

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It Is Red-tailed Hawk Nesting Season

By Mia McPherson|March 15th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Box Elder County, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, desert, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, juniper, nest, nesting, nesting season, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, spring, Utah|

Red-tailed Hawk nesting season has started in northern Utah and I found a few pairs yesterday morning that have already gotten busy with nest building.

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Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female Memories

By Mia McPherson|January 28th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Box Elder County, buteo, Buteo jamaicensis, cliff, cliff face, desert, female, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, resting, rufous, shrub, stretch, stretching, Utah|

This morning I wanted to share a few photos of a stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk female that I photographed over a period of a couple of years.

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Red-tailed Hawk Nesting Season Has Begun!

By Mia McPherson|March 28th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, breeding season, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, female, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, leaping, lichen, lichen covered, lift off, lifting off, male, mated pair, mates, mating, mating season, nest, nesting, nesting season, over, pair, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, rousing, starling|

The female Red-tailed Hawk blended into the lichen covered cliff face so well that even with my sharp eyesight I didn't see her until the male landed next to her.

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Rufous Female Red-tailed Hawk Fly By

By Mia McPherson|January 24th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff face, desert, female, flight, flying, frustrations in bird photography, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, on the wing, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rufous, rufous morph|

I keep wondering if I will see this big, gorgeous, rufous Red-tailed Hawk female in my viewfinder again this year.

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Male Red-tailed Hawk With Yellow Wildflowers

By Mia McPherson|May 10th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah, Wildflowers|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, cliff face, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lichen, male, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, wildflowers, yellow wildflowers|

What is better than photographing a male Red-tailed Hawk? Photographing the hawk with blooming wildflowers, in this case Gray's Biscuitroot.

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Male Red-tailed Hawk Resting On A Desert Cliff

By Mia McPherson|April 28th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, desert, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lichen, male, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, resting, sky, spring, wildflowers, yellow wildflowers|

The best bird I spotted that I could photograph was a male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face and what I loved about this photo was all the grasses, lichen, wildflowers and the sage high up on the cliff.

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More Photos Of The Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female

By Mia McPherson|April 1st, 2019|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, desert, female, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lift off, lifting off, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, rufous, rufous morph, sagebrush, spring, taking off|

I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.

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Nesting Red-tailed Hawks – Plus Guidelines On Photographing Nesting Birds

By Mia McPherson|March 17th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, cliff, cliff face, female, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lichen covered, light morph, male, mated pair, mates, nest building, nesting materials, photograph, photographing, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, restful, rufous morph|

I'm happy to see that the rufous female Red-tailed Hawk does have a mate and that they are building a nest to raise their young in, I hope they are successful.

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Red-tailed Hawks on Cliff Faces

By Mia McPherson|April 4th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, cliff face, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lichen, lichen covered, nest, raptors, red tail hawk, Red-tailed Hawk|

I appreciate it when I can photograph Red-tailed Hawks on Cliff faces well away from the man made objects including power poles and wires, fence posts and barbed wire

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Box Elder County Wild Turkeys

By Mia McPherson|November 7th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Utah, Wild Turkeys|Tags: cliff, cliff face, earthy colors, flock, lichen, Meleagris gallopavo, Promontory Mountain Range, Promontory Mountains, turkeys, Wild Turkey|

Finding a flock of Wild Turkeys close enough to photograph in the Promontory Mountain Range of Box Elder County yesterday was exciting and challenging too.

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Cliff Face and a Banking Red-tailed Hawk

By Mia McPherson|April 20th, 2016|Categories: Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, banking, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, cliff face, Gray's Biscuitroot, hawks, Hawks of Utah, Lomatium grayi, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, Western Red-tailed hawk|

This banking Red-tailed Hawk is one of the pair that are busy building their nest and making nearby forays to find nesting materials.

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