{"id":115165,"date":"2023-08-13T04:12:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T10:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=115165"},"modified":"2023-08-13T04:12:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T10:12:23","slug":"immature-song-sparrow-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/13\/immature-song-sparrow-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Song Sparrow Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, while I was up in the Wasatch Mountain Range<\/span><\/a>, I took several immature Song Sparrow photos in different areas of the mountains. It was great to see that these sparrows had a successful nesting season in the high country.<\/p>\n

\"CreeksideCreekside immature Song Sparrow in summer \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In Summit County, I found this young Song Sparrow perched near an alpine creek on a willow branch that had been gnawed on by a beaver several years ago. The light was beautiful and the immature sparrow seemed interested in my presence, even though I was using my Jeep as a mobile blind.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Song Sparrow with ripe serviceberries \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

While I was in Morgan County, I found birds feasting on the ripe serviceberry berries including this immature Song Sparrow.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that the serviceberries looked juicy and that I was tempted to pick a few to eat. I resisted those urges though. Some of the birds need these berries to fuel up for migration, some need them to survive.<\/p>\n

Me? I may have wanted to taste them but I don’t need<\/em> them like the birds do.<\/p>\n

\"CreeksideCreekside immature Song Sparrow in summer with inset \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

You might be wondering how I knew that both of these Song Sparrows are immature. I observed the fleshy gape in both of these young birds. Additionally, there are some clues in their plumage, but the fleshy gape serves as the easiest indicator that these are hatch year birds.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Song Sparrow with ripe serviceberries and inset \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature Song Sparrow photo shows the yellow, fleshy gape a little more clearly than the first image. Many other birds, but not all, have the fleshy gape I’ve shown in these photos with the insets and that can be helpful for identifying hatch year birds.<\/p>\n

A story that I will leave for another time is how I identified these young birds as Song Sparrows.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Last week, while I was up in the Wasatch Mountain Range, I took several immature Song Sparrow photos in different areas of the mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115156,"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":[27,4594,204,1731,26,773],"tags":[6523,6605,6577,3940,6375,4067,6583,4202,4069,4104,9626,7283,7289,6698,4023,855,4195,13270,2315,6522,4193],"class_list":["post-115165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-song-sparrows","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-berries","tag-branches","tag-canyon","tag-gape","tag-immature","tag-leaves","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-ripe","tag-serviceberries","tag-serviceberry","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-stream-bank","tag-summer-3","tag-utah-serviceberry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/song-sparrow-immature-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7501.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tXv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59308,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/01\/focusing-on-young-song-sparrows-near-a-creek\/","url_meta":{"origin":115165,"position":0},"title":"Focusing 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Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I had a brief photo session with a young Song Sparrow near a creek in bright morning light high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Song Sparrow perched on an old willow branch, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-young-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-young-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-young-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Any day now I should spot my first of season fledgling Song Sparrow exploring their world and learning how to find food on their own.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling Song Sparrow eating at the edge of a creek, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/song-sparrow-juvenile-creek-mia-mcpherson-5973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/song-sparrow-juvenile-creek-mia-mcpherson-5973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/song-sparrow-juvenile-creek-mia-mcpherson-5973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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