Stansbury Mountains – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Wild Turkey Images – Happy Thanksgiving 2024

By Mia McPherson|November 28th, 2024|Categories: Birds, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Wild Turkeys|Tags: autumn, canyon, close up, desert mountains, fall, fearless, female, foraging, hen, Meleagris gallopavo, mountains, portrait, sky island mountains, Stansbury Mountains, turkey, turkeys, Wild Turkey|

Today, I'm sharing Wild Turkey images of foraging hens I found in the Stansbury Mountains of northern Utah because it's Thanksgiving Day. It was a lovely day.

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Autumn Wild Turkey Hen Portrait

By Mia McPherson|October 11th, 2021|Categories: Birds, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert, Wild Turkeys|Tags: Acer negundo, autumn, Box Elder, canyon, close up, fall, fall colors, female, hen, Meleagris gallopavo, mountains, portrait, shadows, Stansbury Mountains, turkey, turkeys, upland terrestrial birds, Wild Turkey|

I found this Wild Turkey hen last autumn as she walked out of the shadows of the forest and into the bright morning light.

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October West Desert Views Of Clouds, Mountains, And The Moon

By Mia McPherson|October 10th, 2021|Categories: Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: canyons, cirrus clouds, clouds, desert, foothills, junipers, landscape, moon, moon set, mountains, peaks, sage, sagebrush, scenic, sky, sky island mountains, slopes, snow, Stansbury Mountains, trees, west desert|

Today I wanted to share these photos of some West Desert views of clouds, mountains, and the moon because I'd like to be out there seeing and photographing them all.

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Remembering Smokeless Days

By Mia McPherson|August 9th, 2021|Categories: Tooele County, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: canyon, clouds, conifers, desert, grasses, juniper, junipers, Juniperus osteosperma, mountains, sage, sagebrush, shadows, sky, sky island mountains, spring, Stansbury Mountains, Utah Juniper|

The photo I shared today isn't of anything special. It is a West Desert mountain range view. That smokeless blue sky though? I'd give so much to see that again here today.

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Ferruginous Hawk, Harvest Moon and the Rising Sun

By Mia McPherson|October 7th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Ferruginous Hawks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, West Desert|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo regalis, Buteos, early morning, Ferruginous Hawk, harvest moon, hawk, hawks, light morph, moon set, Oquirrh Mountains, perched, raptors, Stansbury Mountains, sun rise|

Truthfully I had better luck with the moon and mountains than I did birds yesterday except for one handsome Ferruginous Hawk perched along the road near farm lands.

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Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks – Birds with Tufts

By Mia McPherson|April 15th, 2013|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Great Horned Owls, Horned Larks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: adult, antelope, bird photography, birds, Bubo virginianus, Davis County, ear tufts, Eremophila alpestris, feather tufts, female, Great Horned Owl, Horned Lark, lark, larks, male, nature, nature photography, Owls of Utah, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, tufts, Utah, wildlife, wildlife photography|

Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks are species of birds that have tufts that I photograph regularly here in Utah.

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Female Horned Lark and the moon setting over the Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson|March 31st, 2013|Categories: Birds, Horned Larks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: adult, Eremophila alpestris, female, Horned Lark, lark, larks, moon, moon set, moon setting, singing, Stansbury Mountains|

I photograph tons of male Horned Larks but don't have that many images of female Horned Larks, I was happy to find this beautiful female dancing and singing on a boulder in early morning light yesterday in Tooele County, Utah.

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The West Desert of Utah

By Mia McPherson|February 29th, 2012|Categories: Horned Larks, Pronghorn, Red-tailed Hawks, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Turkey Vultures, Utah, West Desert|Tags: Antilocapra americana, bird photography, birding, birds, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Cathartes aura, desert, desert flats, Eremophila alpestris, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, Horned Lark, lark, larks, mountains, nature, Pronghorn, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, Stansbury Mountains, Turkey Vulture, Utah, vulture, vultures, west desert, wildlife photography|

I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be long before the weather levels out and the west desert will begin to green up.

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More Rough-legged Hawks

By Mia McPherson|November 20th, 2011|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Rough-legged Hawks, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo lagopus, Buteos, flight, hawks, immature, lift off, light morph, natural habitat, perched, raptors, Rough-legged Hawk, Stansbury Mountains, young|

I have been very pleased to add so many images of Rough-legged Hawks to my portfolio in just the past week and hopefully these Roughies will stick around until late February of next year so there will be many more opportunities.

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Friday Photos – A split second does matter

By Mia McPherson|July 29th, 2011|Categories: Birds, Frustrations in bird photography, Handheld, Red-tailed Hawks, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: bird photographer, bird photography, birds, Buteo jamaicensis, clipped, frustration, frustrations in photography, hawk, nature, photography, Red-tailed Hawk, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, wildlife|

For the past two days I have been having an amazing time photographing a family of Red-tailed Hawks; including at least 4 juveniles, in Tooele County, Utah

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