drinking – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Fox Squirrel Drinking From A Bird Bath

By Mia McPherson|May 10th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Fox Squirrels, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, bird bath, drink, drinking, feeder, Fox Squirrel, garden, mammals, Sciurus niger, squirrel, squirrels, tree squirrel, tree squirrels, urban, water, yard|

I took these photos of a Fox Squirrel when the squirrel came in to enjoy a nice drink of water at my friend Steve's Creek's bird bath in his yard in Arkansas.

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Bring On The Snow!

By Mia McPherson|December 1st, 2023|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Dark-eyed Juncos, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great Blue Herons, Ring-billed Gulls, Ring-necked Pheasants, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, Dark-eyed Junco, drinking, eating, feeder, female, fog, foggy, Great Blue Heron, gull, heavy fog, hen, heron, high key, ice, junco, Junco hyemalis, Larus delawarensis, marsh, park, perched, Phasianus colchicus, pheasant, Ring-billed Gull, Ring-necked Pheasant, running, shaking, snow, snowflake, sparrow, urban, wading birds, wetlands, whiteout, winter|

Snow is supposed to start falling around 10 a.m. where I live in northern Utah. It might be the first significant snowfall of this winter down in the valley.

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Bird Battle: Belted Kingfisher vs. Merlin

By Mia McPherson|October 13th, 2023|Categories: Belted Kingfishers, Birds, Merlins, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, aggressive behavior, alpine, autumn, bathed, bathing, behavior, Belted Kingfisher, bothering, canyon, creek, dive-bombed, drinking, falcon, falcons, fall, harassed, interaction, kingfisher, kingfishers, male, Megaceryle alcyon, Merlin, merlins, mountains, predator, prey, riparian habitat, water|

Little did I know that on my last trip up into the Wasatch Mountains, that I would witness a battle between a Belted Kingfisher and my first-of-season Merlin.

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Young And Adult Blue Jay Photos From Arkansas

By Mia McPherson|August 1st, 2023|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, Blue Jay, branch, calling, Cicada, close up, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, driftwood, drinking, exoskeleton, immature, jay, jays, pine, portrait, spring, summer, tree, trunk, urban, water, yard, young|

This morning, I am sharing young and adult Blue Jay photos that I took from my dear friend Steve Creek's deck while I was staying with him in Arkansas.

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Migrating Common Loon Photos

By Mia McPherson|April 22nd, 2023|Categories: Birds, Common Loons, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, breeding plumage, Common Loon, cute, drinking, droplets, eye, flapping, foot, Gavia immer, head tilt, loon, loons, park, pond, raised, red, Salt Lake County, sneaking, splashing, spring, stretching, swimming, urban, Utah, water, waterbirds, wing lift, wings|

I went through more of the Common Loon photos that I have taken since the beginning of this month. I wanted to share more images of these beautiful birds.

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Puzzling Mule Deer Doe Behavior

By Mia McPherson|September 5th, 2022|Categories: Mule Deer, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, behavior, canyon, creek, creek bank., crossing, deer, doe, drinking, fawn, female, grassy, immature, kicking, mammals, mountains, Mule Deer, Odocoileus hemionus, stream, stream bank, summer, tangled, water, young|

Last week while I was up in the Wasatch Mountains is saw some interesting Mule Deer doe behavior after I started to take images of two does and two fawns.

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Winter Common Mergansers

By Mia McPherson|January 16th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Common Mergansers, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, breeding plumage, close up, Common Merganser, Definitive Basic Plumage, diving ducks, drake, drinking, duck, ducks, female, first winter, hen, immature, merganser, mergansers, Mergus merganser, pond, Salt Lake County, swimming, Utah, water, white patches, winter, young|

Yesterday and the day before I was able to observe and photograph winter Common Mergansers at my local pond on both sunny afternoons.

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Winter Ring-billed Gulls – From Low Light To Afternoon Light

By Mia McPherson|January 13th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: afternoon light, drinking, eating, flight, flying, gull, gulls, high key, Larus delawarensis, low light, Ring-billed Gull, snow, snowing, whiteout, winter|

I can't say that I prefer one of these Ring-billed Gull images over the other, the low light image is as appealing to me as the one I took in afternoon light. I enjoy them both.

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Focusing On A Ring-billed Gull Drinking Water From An Icy Pond

By Mia McPherson|January 16th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: drink, drinking, gull, gulls, ice, icy, Larus delawarensis, pond, Ring-billed Gull, standing, swallowing, water, winter|

I removed the "Just A" from the title for this post and added "Focusing On A" instead. Why? Because I was focused on observing and photographing this Ring-billed Gull drinking from an icy pond and I'm happy to say that I was.

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Portraits of Bison Bulls Drinking From An Iced Over Puddle

By Mia McPherson|February 17th, 2017|Categories: American Bison, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah, Wildlife|Tags: adult, American Bison, Bison bison, Bison bull, bulls, close up, crazy-eyed, desert island, drinking, frost, ice, male, portrait, puddle, stink-eye, winter, winter coats|

These portraits of bison bulls drinking from an iced over puddle were taken with my Nikon D500, my 500mm VR lens with a teleconverter attached from inside a vehicle.

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Clark’s Grebe Taking A Drink

By Mia McPherson|November 7th, 2015|Categories: Birds, Clark's Grebes, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: adult, Aechmophorus clarkii, Clark's Grebe, drink, drinking, grebe, grebes, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, water, wetlands|

I photographed this Clark's Grebe taking a drink the end of October at Farmington Bay WMA near the four way.

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Bathing Beauty… er… California Gull

By Mia McPherson|June 5th, 2013|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, California Gulls, Utah|Tags: adult, bath, bathing, breeding plumage, California Gull, desert island, drinking, flutter, goofy, gull, gulls, Larus californicus, lifting, puddle, shaking, water|

Okay, I admit it. I think gulls are beautiful and this California Gull sure looked that way bathing! Look at those bright white feathers, the dark sparkling eyes rimmed in red, the darker contrasting gray feathers, the color and shape of the bill. What's not to like about that?

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Bison Bull Drinking from a Puddle

By Mia McPherson|September 6th, 2012|Categories: American Bison, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Bison, bull, desert island, drinking, grasses, hillside, male, nature, nature photography, puddle, sky, summer, wildlife, wildlife photography|

I photographed this American Bison bull a few days ago on Antelope Island State Park as he was drinking from a freshwater puddle formed by rains over the weekend.

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