{"id":106781,"date":"2022-10-03T03:43:45","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T09:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=106781"},"modified":"2022-10-03T03:43:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T09:43:45","slug":"fall-white-crowned-sparrow-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/03\/fall-white-crowned-sparrow-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall White-crowned Sparrow At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-106778 size-full\" title=\"White-crowned Sparrow at Bear River MBR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815.jpg\" alt=\"White-crowned Sparrow at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">White-crowned Sparrow at Bear River MBR \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Three days ago I photographed a fall White-crowned Sparrow perched on some vegetation from the auto tour loop at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. The sparrow was close enough to my Jeep that I had trouble not clipping the bird&#8217;s tail and with my depth of field. I would have liked more depth of field to get the feet of the bird sharply in focus but I didn&#8217;t have time to change my aperture before the sparrow flew off.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve seen and photographed a few other White-crowned Sparrows at Farmington Bay WMA recently and I have enjoyed hearing their <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/678159\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">songs and calls<\/span><\/a> again. Although these sparrows are year round residents in some areas of Utah I don&#8217;t see them much during their breeding season. They breed at high elevations here.<br \/>\nWhen falls arrives here in the Great Basin I know that these sparrows will appear and I love it.<\/p>\n<p>I love the great look I have of this White-crowned Sparrow&#8217;s eye, the crispness of the stripes on its crown and the way it is perched on the dried stalk of vegetation. The rest of the sparrows I saw that morning didn&#8217;t come out in the the open like this one did.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m glad these sparrows are back in the valleys. I&#8217;ve missed them over the summer.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/white-crowned-sparrow-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my White-crowned Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three days ago I photographed a fall White-crowned Sparrow perched on some vegetation from the auto tour loop at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,26,356],"tags":[4004,970,4620,4094,4104,855,4195,4095,4327,4256],"class_list":["post-106781","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-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-fall","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-wetlands","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7815.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rMh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116305,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/27\/interior-west-white-crowned-sparrow-adult\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":0},"title":"Interior West White-crowned Sparrow Adult","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was at Farmington Bay WMA on Monday, I found and photographed a gorgeous Interior West White-crowned Sparrow adult perched on a Greasewood shrub.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Interior West White-crowned Sparrow perched in Greasewood, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100931,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/20\/world-sparrow-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":1},"title":"World Sparrow Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is World Sparrow Day and since I love all of the sparrows on the planet I thought I'd share some of the sparrows I have photographed in North America.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Tree Sparrows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Tree Sparrows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/emberzine-sparrows-allies\/american-tree-sparrows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow in a hackberry tree, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":163577,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/11\/13\/young-white-crowned-sparrow-and-a-november-sunrise\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":2},"title":"Young White-crowned Sparrow And A November Sunrise","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing White-crowned Sparrow photos, plus a bonus Arkansas River sunrise image taken yesterday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young White-crowned Sparrow at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":117865,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/06\/house-sparrow-on-the-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":3},"title":"House Sparrow On The Rocks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the last birds I photographed on my recent trip to Bear River MBR was this male House Sparrow, perched on a lichen-covered rock south of the Bear River.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":"Male House Sparrow on the rocks, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/house-sparrow-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/house-sparrow-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/house-sparrow-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6740.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/house-sparrow-on-the-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6740.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":174188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/04\/06\/immature-white-crowned-sparrow-molting-in-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":4},"title":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow Molting In Oklahoma","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I had this immature White-crowned Sparrow in my viewfinder at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge long enough to realize she or he was molting.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow molting in Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-3010.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-3010.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-3010.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-molting-mia-mcpherson-3010.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":162642,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/11\/03\/swamp-sparrow-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":106781,"position":5},"title":"Swamp Sparrow At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, I was tickled to take photos of a Swamp Sparrow perched on a Smooth Sumac branch in early morning light.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swamp Sparrow perched on a sumac branch, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swamp-sparrow-autumn-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9764.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swamp-sparrow-autumn-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9764.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swamp-sparrow-autumn-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9764.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swamp-sparrow-autumn-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9764.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}