flight – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Winter Ring-billed Gull Images From Bear River MBR

By Mia McPherson|January 5th, 2022|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: adult, flight, flying, frozen, gull, gulls, ice, Larus delawarensis, marsh, open water, resting, Ring-billed Gull, snow, water, wetlands, winter|

One year ago tomorrow I was at Bear River MBR where I took these winter Ring-billed Gull images from the west side of the auto tour loop at the refuge.

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Canada Goose In Flight – My First Bird Sighting Of 2022

By Mia McPherson|January 2nd, 2022|Categories: Birds, Canada Geese, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, close up, eye, flight, flying, geese, goose, landing, mountains, portrait, skimming, small in frame, snow, snowy, staring, tree, urban, Wasatch Mountains, water, waterfowl, winter|

The first bird that I could positively identify seeing for 2022 was a Canada Goose flying away from my local pond yesterday morning.

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Christmas Day Birds 2021

By Mia McPherson|December 26th, 2021|Categories: American Coots, Birds, California Gulls, Common Goldeneyes, Great Blue Herons, Great-tailed Grackles, Mallards, Rough-legged Hawks|Tags: adult, American Coot, Anas platyrhynchos, Ardea herodias, breeding plumage, Bucephala clangula, Buteo lagopus, California Gull, calling, Christmas, Christmas Day, close up, Common Goldeneye, coot, coots, crawdad, crayfish, dabbling ducks, diving ducks, drake, duck, ducks, eating, female, first winter, flight, flying, foraging, Fulica americana, goldeneye, goldeneyes, grackle, grackles, grass, gray sky, Great Blue Heron, Great-tailed Grackle, gull, gulls, hawk, hawks, heron, herons, hovering, Icterids, immature, Larus californicus, low light, male, Mallard, mallards, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, open bill, pond, portrait, Quiscalus mexicanus, rails, Rough-legged Hawk, splashing, urban, wading birds, water, water droplets, wetlands, winter, young|

I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.

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Christmas Day Bird Photos Through the Years

By Mia McPherson|December 25th, 2021|Categories: Bald Eagles, Birds, Common Mergansers, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great Blue Herons, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, Ardea herodias, Bald Eagle, birds of prey, Common Merganser, diving ducks, duck ducks, eagle, eagles, flight, flying, foggy, four year old, Great Blue Heron, haks, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, hawk, heron, herons, immature, marsh, merganser, mergansers, Mergus merganser, perched, post, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, sky, snow, snow storm, subadult, tree, water, wetlands, winter, young|

These are all birds I have photographed on Christmas Day through the years and all of them were photographed at Farmington Bay WMA.

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Drake Northern Shoveler Landing On A Chilly Pond

By Mia McPherson|November 26th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Northern Shovelers, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, breeding plumage, chilly, dabbling ducks, drake, duck, ducks, fall, flight, flying, Glover Pond, landing, male, marsh, Northern Shoveler, pond, shoveler, shovelers, Spatula clypeata, water, waterfowl, wetlands|

This morning I am sharing a simple photo of a drake Northern Shoveler landing on a chilly pond that I took in early December of last year.

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Ruddy Ducks In Flight

By Mia McPherson|November 24th, 2021|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Ruddy Ducks, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, diving ducks, drake, duck, ducks, fall, female, flight, flock, flying, hen, male, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, Oxyura jamaicensis, pond, preening, Ruddy Duck, sky, swimming, urban, water, waterfowl, wetlands, winter|

A few days ago I saw someone say that they rarely saw photos of Ruddy Ducks in flight and I remembered I had a series of them flying past taken 11 years ago.

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Adult Female Northern Harrier Lifting Off From A Tumbleweed

By Mia McPherson|November 23rd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Northern Harriers, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, birds of prey, Circus hudsonius, Davis County, fall, Farmington Bay WMA, female, flats, flight, flying, harrier, harriers, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, hen, lift off, lifting off, marsh, Northern Harrier, raptors, resting, take off, taking off, tumbleweed, Utah, wetlands|

When I spotted this adult female Northern Harrier resting on a tumbleweed yesterday morning it took a few moments for me to point her out.

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Dark Morph Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off With Prey

By Mia McPherson|November 22nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, dark morph, desert, fall, flight, flying, grass, grasses, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, lift off, lifting off, mammal, prey, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, rocks, sky, take off, taking off|

Yesterday morning I spotted this dark morph Red-tailed Hawk high on a cliff and I was able to photograph him as he lifted off with prey in his talons.

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Three Canada Geese On An Autumn Morning

By Mia McPherson|November 4th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Canada Geese, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, fall, flight, flying, geese, Glover Pond, goose, grass, grasses, lift off, lifting off, pond, take off, taking off, teasels, water, waterfowl, wetlands|

Last week I photographed three Canada Geese lifting off from Glover Pond at Farmington Bay and it brought memories from November of 2008.

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It Is Time To Watch For Bald Eagles In Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|November 3rd, 2021|Categories: Bald Eagles, Birds, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, Bald Eagle, birds of prey, eagle, eagles, flight, flying, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, on the wing, pond, raptors, sky, trees, urban, winter|

Starting today I will be keeping an eye out for the return of Bald Eagles to the lower elevations of northern Utah.

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Ring-billed Gull In Flight And Erratic Autumn Weather

By Mia McPherson|October 25th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, clouds, erratic, fall, flight, foreboding, gull, gulls, incoming, Larus delawarensis, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, Ring-billed Gull, skies, sky, storm, stormy, weather, wetlands|

Changing weather is what was happening when I photographed this Ring-billed Gull last month flying over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.

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It Is Time To Look And Listen For Tundra Swans In Northern Utah

By Mia McPherson|October 23rd, 2021|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: adult, Bald Eagle, birds of prey, clouds, Cygnus columbianus, eagle, eagles, feeding, flight, flying, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, immature, marsh, mountains, on the wing, Promontory Mountains, raptors, scenery, sky, swan, swans, Tundra Swan, water, waterfowl, wetlands, winter|

This morning I noticed in my Facebook memories that I saw and heard my first of season Tundra Swans at Bear River MBR on this date in 2015 and that made me happy.

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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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Flying Canada Goose With Snow Covered Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|October 6th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Canada Geese, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, flight, flying, geese, goose, mountains, Salt Lake County, snow, snow covered, Wasatch Mountains, winter|

Last evening when I walked outside to move my Jeep into the driveway I glanced towards the east to view the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains.

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Immature Light Morph Ferruginous Hawk

By Mia McPherson|September 22nd, 2021|Categories: Birds, Ferruginous Hawks|Tags: Buteo regalis, Buteos, desert, fence post, Ferruginous Hawk, flight, flying, ground, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, lift off, lifting off, light morph, looking, prey, raptors, summer, sunflowers, take off, taking off, Tooele County, Utah, west desert, wooden post, young|

Yesterday on the last full day of summer I found a couple of hawks in the West Desert including this immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk.

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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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Franklin’s Gull Flying In A Smoky Sky

By Mia McPherson|September 18th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Franklin's Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: adult, clouds, flight, flying, Franklin's Gull, gull, gulls, Leucophaeus pipixcan, marsh, nonbreeding plumage, perched, pink breast, pink cast, sky, smoky sky, summer, wetlands|

I have a soft spot for gulls so when I had the opportunity two days ago to photograph this Franklin's Gull flying in a smoky sky I was both excited and thrilled.

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Snowy Egret Photos – Farmington Bay Opening Day

By Mia McPherson|September 17th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: adult, behavior, chasing, Covid, dashing, defensive, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, fight, fighting, flight, flying, hair style, head on, landing, lift off, lifting off, marsh, Snowy Egret, summer, take off, taking off, tip toe, tiptoe, wading birds, water, wetlands, wing tip, wingtip, wooden pole|

Yesterday was kind of an opening day at Farmington Bay and the Snowy Egret show was the highlight of the day.

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Adult Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off

By Mia McPherson|September 11th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Red-tailed Hawks, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: adult, altitude, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, desert, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, haze, juniper, Juniperus osteosperma, perched, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, sky island mountains, smoky, summer, taking off, Utah Juniper|

It didn't take long before the Red-tailed Hawk raised its wings to lift off from the juniper with a smoky blue sky in the background.

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Was the Killing Of Bob The Sandhill Crane Really Necessary?

By Mia McPherson|September 5th, 2021|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Beaverhead County, Birds, Box Elder County, Centennial Valley, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Montana, Sandhill Cranes, Utah, Wayne County|Tags: adult, Antigone canadensis, behavior, breeding display, clouds, courtship behavior, courtship display, crane, cranes, displaying, field, flight, flying, killed, killing, marsh, mated pair, mountains, pair, Sandhill Crane, spring, storrm, summer, Utah DWR, wetlands|

One of the other things that made me upset with Bob the Sandhill Crane being killed is that this could have been prevented.

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Rufous Hummingbird For National Hummingbird Day

By Mia McPherson|September 4th, 2021|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Rufous Hummingbirds, Utah|Tags: bee plant, blooming, Cleomella serrulata, desert island, fall migration, female/immature, flight, flowering, flying, hovering, hummingbird, hummingbirds, low light, migration, native, pink wildflowers, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, smoky, summer, wildflowers|

Today is National Hummingbird Day and I am celebrating by sharing some Rufous Hummingbird photos I took earlier this week on Antelope Island.

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Western Honey Bee And Common Mullein Photos

By Mia McPherson|September 3rd, 2021|Categories: Honey Bees, Morgan County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: Apis mellifera, bee, bees, bloom, blooming, canyon, Common Mullein, European Honeybee, flight, flowering, flying, introduced, mountains, mullein, mulleins, non-native, nonnative, pollen, riparian zone, summer, Western Honeybee|

Both Common Mullein and the Western Honey Bee are introduced, non-native species yet I can't resist photographing them when given the opportunity.

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Late Summer White-lined Sphinx Moth Images

By Mia McPherson|September 2nd, 2021|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah, White-lined Sphinx Moths|Tags: adult, back view, Cleomella serrulata, covered, desert island, feeding, flight, flying, hovering, Hyles lineata, legs, moth, moths, native, nectaring, pink wildflowers, pollen, pollinators, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, summer, White-lined Sphinx Moth, wildflowers, xeriscaping|

Of the hundreds of White-lined Sphinx moth photos I took two days ago I picked three to share today of the moth feeding on Rocky Mountain Bee Plant.

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Rufous Hummingbird Plus Smoky Rising Sun Photos

By Mia McPherson|September 1st, 2021|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Low light, Rufous Hummingbirds, Utah, western skies|Tags: 7:40 am, bloom, blooming, Cleomella serrulata, desert island, eating, fall migration, feeding, flight, flying, haze, hovering, hummingbird, hummingbirds, immature/female, low light, morning, nectaring, pink wildflowers, rising, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, smoke, smoky, smoky haze, summer, sun, tail flare, wildfires, wildflowers|

Yesterday I went out to Antelope Island for the first time since April and I took hundreds of Rufous Hummingbird photos plus some of the rising sun.

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Snowy Egret In Flight

By Mia McPherson|August 20th, 2021|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: adult, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, flight, flying, marsh, mountains, Promontory Mountains, Snowy Egret, summer, wading birds, wetlands|

The reports of snow in the mountains made me think of this Snowy Egret photo I took in August of 2017 with the Promontory Mountains in the background.

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Blooming Common Mullein Images

By Mia McPherson|August 2nd, 2021|Categories: Hunt's Bumble Bees, Morgan County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains, Wildflowers|Tags: bloom, blooming, Bombus huntii, bumble bee, bumble bees, canyon, Common Mullein, flight, flowering, flying, Hunt's Bumble Bee, mountains, mullein, mulliens, nectaring, non-native, nonnative, riparian habitat, summer, Verbascum thapsus, wildlflowers, yellow wildflowers|

Two days ago in between taking Willow Flycatcher photos in the Wasatch Mountains I took blooming Common Mullein images because they were nearby.

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Goofy Looking Canada Goose Lift Off

By Mia McPherson|July 21st, 2021|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Canada Geese, Utah|Tags: adult, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, flight, flying, funny, geese, goofy, goose, lift off, lifting off, marsh, phragmites, phrags, spring, take off, taking off, water, wetlands|

Some of the bird photos I take make me laugh and this goofy looking Canada Goose lifting off from the marsh at Bear River MBR is one of them.

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Fritillary photobombing a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly

By Mia McPherson|July 20th, 2021|Categories: Morgan County, Two-tailed Swallowtails, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: Argynnis cybele, Asclepias speciosa, butterflies, butterfly, canyon, flight, flying, forest, fritillary, fritllaries, Great Spangled Fritillary, mountains, nectaring, Papilio multicaudata, photo bomb, photobomb, photobombing, pink wildflowers, Showy Milkweed, summer, swallowtail, swallowtails, Two-tailed Swallowtail, wildflowers|

Last week I photographed a fritillary butterfly photobomb a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly as it nectared on a Showy Milkweed high in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Twelve Years In Utah

By Mia McPherson|July 10th, 2021|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Red-necked Phalaropes, Utah, Wilson's Phalaropes|Tags: adult, flight, flock, flocks, flying, Great Salt Lake, hypersaline lake, lake, migration, Murmuration, phalarope, phalaropes, Phalaropus lobatus, Phalaropus tricolor, phenomenon, Red-necked Phalaropes, shorebirds, summer, water, Wilson's Phalaropes|

Twelve years ago this morning I woke in Grand Island, Nebraska. I was a little more than 800 miles from my destination of Salt Lake City.

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Adult Golden Eagle In Flight In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|June 1st, 2021|Categories: Birds, Golden Eagles, Summit County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, Aquila chrysaetos, birds of prey, canyon, eagle, eagles, flight, flying, Golden Eagle, mountains, raptor, spring|

The last time I was in the Wasatch Mountains I had a brief window of opportunity to photograph an adult Golden Eagle in flight.

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