jay – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Blue Jay Looking Right At Me

By Mia McPherson|November 6th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: autumn, Blue Jay, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, fall, garden, head on, jay, jays, look, suburban, viewfinder, wooden post, yard|

I spent years being Blue Jay deprived, so I am really relishing seeing, hearing, and photographing them now. Having Blue Jays in my viewfinder is truly a joy!

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Young Blue Jay, Pin Feathers, And Growth

By Mia McPherson|August 24th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: Arkansas, Blue Jay, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, feather, feeder, garden, growth, immature, jay, jays, pin feathers, Sebastian County, summer, teen-aged, urban, yard, young|

When I had this young Blue Jay in my viewfinder, I could clearly see that it was immature. The pin feathers and new growth told me everything I needed to know.

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Blue Jay Images From Arkansas

By Mia McPherson|May 7th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, Arkansas, background, bird bath, Blue Jay, close up, colorful, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, dark, drink, feeder, garden, jay, jays, portrait, rain, Sebastian County, spring, urban, yard|

I had a blast taking these Blue Jay images at Steve Creek's home in Arkansas. Soon after the bluebirds fledged, the jays felt safe to come into the feeders.

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Blue Jay Portrait With A Glowing Background

By Mia McPherson|April 22nd, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, background, Blue Jay, close up, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, garden, glowing, jay, jays, morning light, pine straw, portrait, spring, urban, yard|

There are times when I take a photo, upload it to my computer, open it to view it on my screen, and my breath gets taken away. This Blue Jay portrait did that.

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Urban Birds – Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

By Mia McPherson|January 10th, 2024|Categories: Birds, Salt Lake County, Utah, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, branches, conifer, corvids, jay, jays, perched, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, spruce, tree, urban, winter, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

Three years ago today, I photographed this adult Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay from my living room window. The jay was in a neighbor's spruce tree across the street.

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Another Scrub-Jay Name Change in 2024

By Mia McPherson|December 5th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Ophir Canyon, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, American Ornithological Society, AOS, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, autumn, bill, corvids, fall, food, jay, jays, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, name change, perched, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, seeds, shrub, sky island mountains, tree, Utah Juniper, winter, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

Lately, I've been wondering what the new name for the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay species, that I photograph here in Utah, will be when it is changed in 2024.

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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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Young Blue Jay Upside Down At A Feeder

By Mia McPherson|June 22nd, 2023|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: Blue Jay, close up, corvids, Cyanocitta cristata, feeder, immature, jay, jays, portrait, summer, upside down, urban, young|

Given how odd spring has been for me personally, it seemed appropriate for me to photograph a young Blue Jay hanging upside down on the first day of summer.

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Blue Jay Portrait In Arkansas

By Mia McPherson|June 11th, 2023|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue Jays, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, Blue Jay, close up, Cyanocitta cristata, feeder, jay, jays, portrait, seed, spring, sunflower, yard|

For some people, a Blue Jay portrait might be a common image to capture, but for me, it's not common at all. This particular one was taken in Arkansas, not Utah.

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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay With Different Backgrounds

By Mia McPherson|January 12th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, background, desert, foot hills, jay, jays, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, mountains, perched, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky, sky island mountains, tree, trees, Utah Juniper, winter, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

This morning I'm sharing two photos of the same Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay perched in the West Desert on the same juniper with two different backgrounds.

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My Birding By Ear Affliction

By Mia McPherson|January 7th, 2023|Categories: American Crows, Barred Owls, Birds, Blue Jays, Florida, Hillsborough County, Lettuce Lake Regional Park, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, American Crow, autumn, Barred Owl, birding by ear, Blue Jay, branches, corvids, Corvus brachyrhynchos, crow, crows, Cyanocitta cristata, epiphytic flowering plant, fall, hardwood hammock, ice, jay, jays, marsh, owl, owls, peanut, perched, Spanish Moss, Strix varia, Tillandsia usneoides, tree, wetlands, winter|

My birding by ear affliction isn't that I can't hear birds; it is that I can't not hear them. Even when I am on the phone with my friends.

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Kinglets And Turkeys Plus One Scrub-Jay

By Mia McPherson|October 9th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Wild Turkeys, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: Abies concolor, adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, canyon, close up, Corthylio calendula, creek, desert, dry wash, fir, firs, hen, jay, jays, kinglet, kinglets, Meleagris gallopavo, mountains, peeking, perched, portrait, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky island mountains, tree, turkey, turkeys, upland terrestrial birds, wash, White Fir, Wild Turkey, willows, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.

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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Portrait in the Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson|September 13th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, close up, jay, jays, junipers, portrait, rictal bristles, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

It isn't often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago.

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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay – A Familiar Bird with a New Name

By Mia McPherson|July 8th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Cascade Springs, Ophir Canyon, Tooele County, Uinta National Forest, Utah, Wasatch County, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, behavior, California Scrub-Jay, differences, habitat, jay, jays, name change, oak, perched, pinyon pine, Samuel Washington Woodhouse, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, snow, split, Western Scrub-Jay, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

The long-awaited Scrub-Jay split has officially happened! Western Scrub-Jay can be crossed out in a our fields guides and the two new names California Scrub-Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay can be penciled in.

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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay in Ophir Canyon

By Mia McPherson|January 18th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Ophir Canyon, Tooele County, Utah, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, corvids, desert, jay, jays, junipers, pinyon pine, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky island mountains, snow, winter, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

A couple Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays in Ophir Canyon Road in Tooele County were the most cooperative of the jays that I found.

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