{"id":101612,"date":"2022-04-18T03:27:46","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T09:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=101612"},"modified":"2022-04-18T11:41:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T17:41:25","slug":"savannah-sparrow-in-the-marsh-of-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/18\/savannah-sparrow-in-the-marsh-of-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Savannah Sparrow In The Marsh Of Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SavannahSavannah Sparrow perched in the marsh at Bear River MBR \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been hearing more Savannah Sparrows than usual at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> this spring. I hope that means their numbers are increasing. That would be good news and after hearing such bad news about decreasing bird populations it could also give me hope. Of course, their numbers might only be increasing locally and not throughout their entire range. Whatever the cause, I am glad to hear their songs<\/span><\/a> when I drive around the refuge.<\/p>\n

Now, some of you may wonder why this Savannah Sparrow has a crest because that identification feature isn’t mentioned in any field guides for this species. They actually don’t have crests but this one looks like it does because the wind was strong the day I took this photo and blew some of the bird’s crown feathers up which made it look like a crest. The wind was actually making my lens hood howl that morning. That isn’t a sound I like and I sure don’t like how the wind affects my eyes.<\/p>\n

I have Sjogren’s Syndrome<\/span><\/a> which causes my eyes to be much drier than a normal person’s eyes and wind blowing across them irritates them horribly.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Savannah Sparrow singing in the marsh of Bear River MBR \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m also allergic to my own tears and they burn my skin. When the wind irritates my eyes and the tears that form due to it touch my skin it burns. It is like a sunburn but caused by my own tears. The effect of this is worse when I can’t wash the tears off of my skin soon enough which I usually can’t do when I am way out in the field. A few recent events have caused my eyelids to feel as if they were sunburned for about a week so I am going to have to make some changes to maintain my eye health. My sight is critical to do what I do and because of that I need to protect my eyes.<\/p>\n

Listening to this Savannah Sparrow sing over the wind was still a treat for me. Their songs bring me joy.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Savannah Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been hearing more Savannah Sparrows than usual at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge this spring. I hope that means their numbers are increasing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,831,26],"tags":[4004,4094,4194,4104,229,9978,4179,855,4195,165,4095],"class_list":["post-101612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-savannah-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-marsh","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-perched","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-sing","tag-singing-2","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/savannah-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-2823.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qqU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/10\/singing-adult-savannah-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":101612,"position":0},"title":"Singing 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Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Grebe adult swimming on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-montana-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-montana-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-montana-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-montana-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57184,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/11\/singing-savannah-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":101612,"position":3},"title":"Singing Savannah Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I wonder if GEICO knows that they can drive a birder\/bird photographer bonkers as easy as they did me over the winter.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Savannah Sparrow singing next to a road, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-7877.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-7877.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-7877.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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