dirt – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Foggy Start To An April Morning At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge

By Mia McPherson|April 18th, 2024|Categories: Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, White-tailed Deer|Tags: adult, blackbird, bottomland hardwood forests, bottomlands, clouds, deer, dirt, doe, female, field, fog, foggy, forest, heavy fog, mammals, morning, Odocoileus virginianus, refuge, rolling in, shrubs, sky, spring, tree, trees, White-tailed Deer|

Yesterday, there was a foggy start to a morning of bird and wildlife photography at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. I really didn't mind the fog much at all.

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Roadside Baby Uinta Ground Squirrel

By Mia McPherson|June 2nd, 2023|Categories: Summit County, Uinta Ground Squirrels, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: baby, canyon, damp, dirt, ground squirrel, ground squirrels, immature, mammals, mountains, roadside, spring, squirrel, squirrels, Uinta Ground Squirrel, Urocitellus armatus, young|

I am completely unable to resist taking baby Uinta Ground Squirrel photos. These babies are simply that appealing to me, no matter where I find them.

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Leucistic American Coot Photos

By Mia McPherson|April 13th, 2023|Categories: American Coots, Birds, Great-tailed Grackles, Leucistic, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Coot, back view, coot, coots, dirt, face, foraging, Fulica americana, grackle, grackles, grass, Great-tailed Grackle, leucism, leucistic, male, morning, plumage aberration, preening, profile view, Quiscalus mexicanus, Salt Lake County, spring, staring, swimming, tail, tree trunk, urban, Utah, water|

Over the past four months I wanted closer, better photos of the leucistic American Coot that I found on January 2nd. My patience and persistence paid off.

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My 2022 Year In Review

By Mia McPherson|December 31st, 2022|Categories: American Kestrels, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Box Elder County, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Golden Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Horned Grebes, Morgan County, Ring-billed Gulls, Rock Wrens, Ruffed Grouse, Tundra Swans, Utah, Warbling Vireos, Wasatch Mountains, Yellow Warblers|Tags: adult, Amelanchier utahensis, American Kestrel, Aquila chrysaetos, autumn, background, berries, Bewick's Swan, bill, birds of prey, Black-billed Magpie, blooming, blooms, blossoms, Bonasa umbellus, boulder, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Bubo virginianus, building, canyon, close up, corvids, Cygnus columbianus, Cygnus columbianus bewickii, Davis County, desert, dirt, eagle, eagles, Falco sparverius, falcon, falcons, fall, farmlands, female, fledgling, flight, flock, flowering, flowering shrub, flying, forest edge, fruiting shrub, fruits, fruting shrubs, Golden Eagle, gorget, Great Horned Owl, grebe, grebes, grouse, gull, gulls, Horned Grebe, hummingbird, hummingbirds, immature, juvenile, kestrel, kestrels, Larus delawarensis, lichen, lores, magpie, magpies, male, marsh, mountains, nest, nest box, nesting, nonbreeding plumage, owl, owls, perched, Pica hudsonia, Podiceps auritus, raptors, rare, reflection, Ring-billed Gull, riparian habitat, road, roadside, rock, Rock Wren, rocks, Ruffed Grouse, Salpinctes obsoletus, Selasphorus platycercus, serviceberries, serviceberry, Setophaga petechia, shrub, spring, stink-eye, summer, swan, swans, thicket, tree, Tundra Swans, Utah, Utah Serviceberry, vagrant, warbler, warblers, water, waterbirds, waterfowl, wetlands, willow, willow thicket, willows, winter, winter plumage, wood-warbler, wood-warblers, wren, wrens, Yellow Warbler, young|

On this last day of the year it is time for my annual 2022 Year in Review post. In some ways 2022 has been great for me and in others not so good.

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Autumn Ruffed Grouse Photos

By Mia McPherson|October 8th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Morgan County, Ruffed Grouse, Utah, Video, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, autumn, Bonasa umbellus, canyon, dirt, fall, grouse, head on, light, minute, mountains, nemesis, road, Ruffed Grouse, upland terrestrial birds, video, walking|

A Ruffed Grouse in the shadows of the mountain peaks to the east was my best bird on a cool autumn morning yesterday. When I spotted the grouse, I was elated.

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West Desert Great Basin Gopher Snake

By Mia McPherson|August 19th, 2022|Categories: Gopher Snakes, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, desert, dirt, foothills, Gopher Snake, Great Basin Gopher Snake, Pituophis catenifer, Pituophis catenifer deserticola, reptile, reptiles, road, sky island mountains, snake, snakes, summer|

Two days ago while out exploring the West Desert of Utah I was thrilled to come across a large Great Basin Gopher Snake warming itself on a dusty dirt road.

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Chunky Uinta Ground Squirrel In July

By Mia McPherson|July 27th, 2022|Categories: Summit County, Uinta Ground Squirrels, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: canyon, chunky, dirt, ground squirrel, ground squirrels, low light, mammals, mountains, road, squirrel, squirrels, summer, Uinta Ground Squirrel, Urocitellus armatus|

Last Friday I couldn't resist photographing a chunky Uinta Ground Squirrel I found standing next to a road high in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Singing Rock Wren In The West Desert

By Mia McPherson|May 20th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Rock Wrens, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, back view, clod, desert, dirt, end, foothills, grass, grasses, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, perched, rock, Rock Wren, rocks, Salpinctes obsoletus, singing, sky island mountains, spring, tail, Tooele County, Utah, Utah Juniper, west desert, wren, wrens|

Yesterday when I spotted a Rock Wren singing from the top of a juniper in Utah's West Desert I hoped to take a few decent photos of it before it flew away.

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Nesting Mountain Bluebirds And Other Woodland Birds

By Mia McPherson|April 30th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Chipping Sparrows, House Wrens, Mountain Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers|Tags: adult, aspen, bird finding tip, bluebird, bluebirds, branch, breeding plumage, breeding season, canyon, Chipping Sparrow, clod, close up, dirt, forest, forest edge, gathering, House Wren, instincts, looking up, male, mate, Mountain Bluebird, mountains, nesting cavity, nesting materials, perched, photographic rut, portrait, regal, road, Setophaga coronata, shadow, Sialia currucoides, singing, sparrow, sparrows, Spizella passerina, spring, thrushes, trees, Troglodytes aedon, warbler, warblers, wren, wrens, Yellow-rumped Warbler|

Yesterday I had a blast photographing a pair of Mountain Bluebirds at a natural nesting cavity at the edge of a forest along with some other woodland birds.

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