For several weeks I repeatedly saw and heard a Vesper Sparrow in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains and early in July I was able to take some decent images of it as it sang on a metal post.

Vesper Sparrow singing in the Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, UtahVesper Sparrow singing in the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

I’d just finished photographing a male American Goldfinch feeding on Musk Thistles and had started to drive slowly up the canyon in my Jeep when I heard the song of the Vesper Sparrow where I had seen one of the sparrows on several previous trips into the canyon so I slowed down even more and started to look for it then I spotted the sparrow close to the edge of the road on an old metal post singing its little heart out. I hoped it wouldn’t fly off before I was able to stop, focus on it and take images of it.

Vesper Sparrow singing on a metal post, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, UtahVesper Sparrow singing on a metal post – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

The sparrow cooperated and I was able to take a nice series of images of it before a jogger went by and flushed the bird. It didn’t fly too far away so I sat there in my Jeep hoping it would come closer again, after a few minutes it appeared that the sparrow wasn’t going to come closer so I watched it sing on top of the bush it had flown too. I tried to take a video of the Vesper Sparrow singing but I didn’t have the camera locked onto a tripod so the video made me a bit dizzy. Okay, it made me more than a bit dizzy. I wish I had brought my tripod along that day but I’d left it at home.

The past few times I have been up into that canyon the Vesper Sparrow has been absent or I just couldn’t see it. Perhaps it found a mate and they are raising little sparrows now, I’d like to think that they are.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Vesper Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.