{"id":11738,"date":"2013-12-10T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=11738"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:09:07","slug":"song-sparrow-on-a-bitter-cold-winter-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/10\/song-sparrow-on-a-bitter-cold-winter-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Song Sparrow On A Bitter Cold Winter Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SongSong Sparrow on a bitter cold winter day – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday the lowest temperature I saw at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area<\/span><\/a> was -12F which reinforces the thought that “bird photography isn’t for everyone<\/span><\/a>” and that winters in Utah are hard on the birds. It was bitter cold and early in the morning most of the birds were either laying low or trying to warm up as the sun rose.<\/p>\n

Some of the first birds to start flying around and foraging are the sparrows and they can be seen flitting from the phragmites, pigweed, fences\u00a0and grasses or foraging along the road where vehicles have stirred things up.<\/p>\n

The tiny Song Sparrow in my photo was foraging a distance from the road when I spotted, pointed it out, and photographed it.<\/p>\n

Although this is a rather large crop I sure liked the birds pose. There are tracks in the snow behind the bird and I suspect that some pheasants might have been foraging for seeds on the plant the Song Sparrow is perched on and that the sparrow was looking for any seeds they left behind to eat.<\/p>\n

Our Utah winters can be hard on birds, especially with sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow on the ground, but these tiny Song Sparrows survive and thrive.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday the lowest temperature I saw at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area was -12F which reinforces the thought that “bird photography isn’t for everyone” and that winters in Utah are hard on the birds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,697,204,26],"tags":[4004,5795,3981,4136,4094,4202,4059,9172,2135,4050,4023,855,4195,9073,373],"class_list":["post-11738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-song-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-cold","tag-davis-county","tag-foraging","tag-marsh","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-phragmites","tag-pigweed","tag-seeds","tag-snow","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-survive","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-food-mia-mia-mcpherson-6761.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-33k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6723,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/07\/song-sparrows-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":11738,"position":0},"title":"Song Sparrows In Winter Conditions","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Song Sparrows are found throughout the U.S. and into Canada, some populations move south during the winter to southern states and northern Mexico. So far 30 subspecies of Song Sparrows have been described.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow working at getting some seeds, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.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-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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yesterday morning in icy cold temps where my favorite images that I took were of a puffy Song Sparrow in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Puffball Song Sparrow, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/song-sparrow-winter-puffball-mia-mcpherson-1576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/song-sparrow-winter-puffball-mia-mcpherson-1576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/song-sparrow-winter-puffball-mia-mcpherson-1576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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