I’ve been having fun photographing Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) lately and it is a joy to have them in my viewfinder again. The light I had when I photographed this adult owl lifting off from the Sagebrush wasn’t ideal, I would have liked more shutter speed to freeze the motion. The brighter area at the […]
Author: Mia McPherson
Mia McPherson is a nature lover, wildlife watcher and an avian photographer. Mia first become serious about bird photography when she moved to Florida in 2004. Her recent move to the Salt Lake area of Utah was a great opportunity to continue observing their behavior and photographing them. With so many birds species there easily accessible it wasn’t long before she was hooked. By learning more about each species, she can anticipate their behaviour and create opportunities to obtain ever better images of those species.
Burrowing Owl Butt Shot!
Let’s face it some butt shots aren’t very pretty but some can be awfully darned cute! I’ve never been able to think of a great caption for this Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) image, if anyone has an idea for one, please leave it in your comment. The juvenile had been preening and gave this wonderful […]
Western Kingbird on Barbed Wire
Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis) appear to have had a wonderful nesting season here in Utah because there are plenty of young birds perching on wires and branches loudly demanding food from the frazzled looking adults. When I first spotted this adult Western Kingbird on Mondayon the roadfrom the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour […]
Creatures Great and Small – Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
There are many mammals to see at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, I haven’t seen them all yet but I hope to one day. On this last trip I saw Moose, Elk, Skunks, Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, Foxes, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Yellow-bellied Marmots, and Pronghorns.
Three and a half months with a young American Oystercatcher
In 2008 I had the great pleasure of observing and photographing a family of American Oystercatchers from the day after the chicks hatched until three and a half months later. It is difficult to explain how amazing it feels to witness the growth of the chicks over a long period of time, I can tell […]
Black-crowned Night Heron fly by
I spent yesterday morning photographing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah. Black-crowned Night Herons seemed to be everywhere on the south side of the auto tour loop, both adults and hatch year birds. Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) are wading birds that are mainly active at night, dusk and early […]
American Oystercatcher in a Tidal Lagoon
I’ve been working up images for a long post and this American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) image is a clue as to what that post will be about. I had a marvelous time on March 22, 2009 photographing this bird and several other oystercatchers in a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto’s north beach. By that […]
A Cooperative Loggerhead Shrike juvenile
From all appearances it has been a great nesting season for the Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) on Antelope Island State Park, it seems everywhere I look there are numerous juvenile Shrikesperched on bushes near rather harried looking adults. Yesterday while photographing and adult Shrike I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye […]