spotlight – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

My Mom Would Have Been 92 Today

By Mia McPherson|2024-05-16T13:16:39-05:00May 17th, 2024|Categories: Eastern Cottonwood, Miscellaneous, Oklahoma, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge|Tags: American Sycamore, babies, birds of prey, bottomland hardwood forests, Buteo lineatus, Buteos, chicks, Cottonwood, Eastern Cottonwood, forest, hawk, hawks, heart, heart shape, immature, juvenile, leaves, light, native, natural, nest, nestling, Platanus occidentalis, Populus deltoides, raptors, Red-shouldered Hawk, shadow, spotlight, spring, sycamore, tree, tree trunk, trunk, young|

My mom would have been 92 today. I miss her terribly, but she is with me in so many ways. She was also with me when I went to Tishomingo NWR last Saturday.

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Snowy Egret In Marsh Morning Light

By Mia McPherson|2023-09-28T05:06:23-05:00September 26th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, fall, fluffed, legs, marhsy, marsh, morning light, plumes, resting, shadowed, shadows, shore, Snowy Egret, spotlight, wading birds, water, wetlands|

One of the first birds I photographed this autumn was this fluffed-up Snowy Egret glowing in a natural spotlight in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.

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Three-toed Box Turtle Photos From Sequoyah NWR

By Mia McPherson|2023-07-01T18:22:45-05:00July 2nd, 2023|Categories: Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Three-toed Box Turtles|Tags: adult, bottomland hardwood forests, bottomlands, box turtle, box turtles, glowing, morning light, move, reptiles, spotlight, spring, Terrapene carolina ssp. triunguis, Three-toed Box Turtle, turtle, turtles|

This morning I am showcasing four Three-toed Box Turtle photos that I took while I visited Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Oklahoma.

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Dark And Moody Common Loon Photos

By Mia McPherson|2023-04-18T02:59:37-05:00April 18th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Common Loons, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, breeding plumage, Common Loon, Gavia immer, loon, loons, low light, magic, migration, mystery, natural, park, pond, shadowed, shadows, spotlight, spring, water, waterbirds|

The dark and moody nature of the Common Loon has made this bird species a popular subject of mythology and folklore.

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Snowy Egret In A Natural Spotlight

By Mia McPherson|2022-09-24T03:28:23-05:00September 24th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: autumn, beam, dreamlike, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, emerged, fall, light, marsh, shadows, Snowy Egret, spotlight, stepping, wading birds, walking, water, wetlands|

When this Snowy Egret emerged from the shadows and into the sunlight yesterday morning, I briefly forgot to breathe. The egret appeared to be glowing.

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Glowing Snowy Egret In A Ray Of Morning Light

By Mia McPherson|2023-09-26T06:02:54-05:00October 17th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: adult, autumn, beam, egret, egrets, Egretta thula, fall, glowing, light, marsh, ray of light, Snowy Egret, spotlight, sunbeam, wading birds, water, wetlands|

The stark contrast of the white plumage of the Snowy Egret against the darkness of shadows on the vegetation and water made the egret appear to glow.

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Female Broad-Tailed Hummingbird Feeding, Hovering And Resting

By Mia McPherson|2021-05-11T14:53:27-05:00May 8th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: back view, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, canyons, Cornus sericea, feeding, female, flower, flowering shrub, grasses, hovering, hummingbird, hummingbirds, identifying, key features, mountains, nectar, Red Osier Dogwood, resting, Ribes cereum, Selasphorus platycercus, spotlight, tail, Utah, Wax Currant|

A few days ago I photographed my first of the season Broad-tailed Hummingbird and I was elated that the bird was a female.

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