Savannah Sparrow singing next to a road – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 250, +0.03 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Savannah Sparrows have returned to Utah but try as I might I haven’t been able to capture any high quality images of them so far this spring that I like which is a bit frustrating to me. I have had a few chances on my recent trips up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but each time another vehicle has come by which made getting the photos I wanted impossible because the sparrows took off.
Quite often I hear Savannah Sparrows before I see them and I truly love hearing their songs and calls so when they are on their breeding grounds and I am in the type of habitat they like I listen for them often. I feel delight when I can spot them after hearing them sing.
Listen to a Savannah Sparrow song here.
All winter long though I’ve been driven a bit bonkers by a humorous GEICO commercial where two squirrels cause an accident and celebrate with a paw slapping routine. I haven’t gone off my rocker so I will explain why this commercial caused that feeling for me over the winter.
I spend more time inside during the winter and there are times I have my TV turned on while I work on files and I tend to use it as a white noise machine to drown out the city noises so quite often I am not even looking at the TV screen at all. This squirrelly commercial was played a lot over the winter, sometimes three or four times during an hour and each time it played my ears picked up a bird song that would perk me up and draw my attention away from whatever it was I was doing.
About three seconds into the commercial a Savannah Sparrow sings and then sings again towards the end of the video and every single time it played my birder brain would hear it. Now, I knew there wasn’t a Savannah Sparrow singing in my living room or outside the window because they migrate south for the winter and secondly I never see a Savannah Sparrow at home because I live in a city and there isn’t much of their preferred habitat nearby but each time that commercial played my birder brain went into high gear and I’d automatically look up in an attempt to locate the sparrow.
I wonder if GEICO knows that they can drive a birder/bird photographer bonkers as easy as they did me over the winter. 🙂
Life is good.
Mia
*In the interest of full disclosure I want to say that I digitally removed a bright grass stem tip at the lower left section of this frame.
Click here to view more of my Savannah Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.
Ads often drive me (more) crazy. I can totally understand the Gemco ad getting to you.
Thank you for, as you often do, featuring the smaller, less ‘showy’ birds. Who are beautiful.
This is a cute little guy. The barb wire really emphasizes the size. I grew up with Sparrows, but a different species. My Grandmother called them Barn Sparrows and they were a darker shade of brown. They could be quite noisy when there was a large group communing together. Brought back good memories of times spent with my Grandmother!
We don’t see many Savannah Sparrows here but there is one spot out in farm country where I know they will be. I listen for them and look for them every chance I get. Yes, I can see how you would automatically look up when you heard the birdsong.