Vesper Sparrow perched on sagebrush, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, UtahVesper Sparrow ID features, , Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah

Vesper Sparrow perched on sagebrush – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Click and pull the white arrow to the left to reveal some of the ID features I use to determine that this is a Vesper Sparrow.

I paid a heavy price to get this Vesper Sparrow photo because despite warnings from the park and my last buggy trip to the Island I went to Antelope Island yesterday morning and even with wearing netting over my hair and scalp and a hat on top of it the biting gnats got to me any way. They tore me up.  I now have big bumps on my scalp from the nasty, swarming, blood-sucking gnats. I will not be going back to the island until those vile biting gnats are gone.

I was trying to locate and photograph the Lark Sparrows that have returned to Antelope Island and although I saw a few I wasn’t able to obtain any decent, high quality images of them but I did have another sparrow pop up into view long enough to take some nice photos of it.

I saw two sparrows fluttering around a sagebrush and when this Vesper Sparrow popped up I was ready to take a nice series of it perched on top of the sage. I knew immediately that is was a Vesper Sparrow but I know that not everyone can ID these LBJ (little brown jobs) and after being asked what makes it a Vesper Sparrow I decided to create a graphic with my image to point out some of the key ID features I look for when I identify them.

  • White eyering
  • Rufous lesser coverts
  • Streaked back
  • Streaked underparts
  • White outer tail feathers

The first ID features I noticed yesterday with this Vesper Sparrow were the bright, white eyerings and the rufous lesser coverts and I could make my ID from just those two features. The rufous lesser coverts don’t always show but with this Vesper Sparrow from yesterday that rufous patch was highly visible.

Vesper Sparrows have a lovely song that they usually sing at twilight, have a listen here.

The Vesper Sparrow didn’t straighten out its tail while I photographed it but the white outer tail feathers are still visible from underneath in this frame as are the streaks in the back and underparts. Vesper Sparrows also have a pale-centered area in the auriculars (cheek below the eye) that is framed by dark feathers but in this image that wasn’t very pronounced so I left it off of the image that has the ID features on it.

The biting gnats of Antelope Island will keep me away from there for some time but I know I can see these lovely Vesper Sparrows in other locations that aren’t as buggy. I’m happy that they are back in Utah.

Life is good.

Mia

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