Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

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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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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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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Looking at 2016 in the Rear View Mirror or My Photographic Year in Review

By Mia McPherson|December 31st, 2016|Categories: American Barn Owls, American Bitterns, American Pipits, Bald Eagles, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Beaverhead County, Belted Kingfishers, Birds, Box Elder County, Burrowing Owls, Centennial Valley, Clark County, Davis County, Double-crested Cormorants, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great Horned Owls, High Uintas, Hybrid Geese, Idaho, Leucistic, Montana, Peregrine Falcons, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Red-naped Sapsuckers, Red-tailed Hawks, Salt Lake County, Short-eared Owls, Summit County, Targhee National Forest, Tooele County, Turkey Vultures, Utah, Wayne County, Western Bluebirds, Wilson's Phalaropes, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays, Yellow-bellied Marmots|Tags: American Barn Owl, American Bittern, American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, Asio flammeus, Athene cunicularia, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Botaurus lentiginosus, Bubo virginianus, Burrowing Owl, Buteo jamaicensis, Canada x Snow Goose, Cathartes aura, Double-crested Cormorant, Falco peregrinus, Great Horned Owl, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, hybrid, Marmota flaviventris, Megaceryle alcyon, Nannopterum auritus, Peregrine Falcon, Phalaropus tricolor, Red-naped Sapsucker, Red-tailed Hawk, Short-eared Owl, Sialia mexicana, Sphyrapicus nuchalis, Turkey Vulture, Tyto furcata, Western Bluebird, Wilson's Phalarope, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Yellow-bellied Marmot|

Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!

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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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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay perched on an oak

By Mia McPherson|October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Birds, Cascade Springs, Utah, Washington County, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays|Tags: adult, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, autumn, bird photography, bird watching, corvids, fall, forest, jays, oak, perched, scrub-jay, scrub-jays, sky, Western Scrub-Jay, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay|

Last month I was able to photograph this Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay on my way up to Cascade Springs in Wasatch County, Utah as it perched on an oak near the road.

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