{"id":142772,"date":"2025-04-11T02:39:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=142772"},"modified":"2025-12-10T06:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:46:10","slug":"savannah-sparrow-in-a-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/11\/savannah-sparrow-in-a-breeze\/","title":{"rendered":"Savannah Sparrow In A Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been seeing and hearing Savannah Sparrows for weeks now. Yesterday, I had this Savannah Sparrow in my viewfinder at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142766 size-full\" title=\"Spring Savannah Sparrow in a breeze, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg\" alt=\"Spring Savannah Sparrow in a breeze, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" 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\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Spring Savannah Sparrow in a breeze \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f6.3, 1\/3200, ISO 1600, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Savannah Sparrows have been especially skittish, so I was happy to have this one stick to its perch for a bit. Not only did it stay put, it even <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/574955\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">sang<\/span><\/a> a little too. I adore hearing Savannah Sparrows.<\/p>\n<p>There was a slight breeze when I photographed this little songster, just enough to ruffle their feathers, which I found rather endearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"184\">You might notice that this particular Savannah Sparrow doesn\u2019t have yellow lores. While some yellow in the lores can help identify Savannah Sparrows, not all of them show that feature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"186\" data-end=\"321\">I\u2019m very confident in my ID, though, because I can rely on other key traits to recognize this species, including their unmistakable song.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"323\" data-end=\"536\">Savannah Sparrows don\u2019t breed in Arkansas, or in Oklahoma except for the far northwestern part of the panhandle. The Savannahs I see at the refuge are simply passing through on their way to their breeding grounds.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m glad that I&#8217;ve been able to photograph Savannah Sparrows in Florida, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Texas, and Oklahoma. I have to say, I&#8217;m always delighted to have this sparrow species in my viewfinder, no matter where I am.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/savannah-sparrow-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Savannah Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been seeing and hearing Savannah Sparrows for weeks now. Yesterday, I had this Savannah Sparrow in my viewfinder at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142766,"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":[27,13973,831,13974],"tags":[4004,14190,13984,5460,4194,4104,229,855,4195,165,11722],"class_list":["post-142772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-oklahoma","category-savannah-sparrows","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-breeze","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-perched","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-vine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-B8M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":165532,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/10\/low-light-savannah-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":142772,"position":0},"title":"Low Light Savannah Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a few minutes photographing this Savannah Sparrow in the shadow of my Jeep yesterday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light Savannah Sparrow, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/savannah-sparrow-sequoyah-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3070.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/savannah-sparrow-sequoyah-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3070.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/savannah-sparrow-sequoyah-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3070.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/savannah-sparrow-sequoyah-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3070.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":172612,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/03\/20\/world-sparrow-day-2026-and-happy-first-day-of-spring\/","url_meta":{"origin":142772,"position":1},"title":"World Sparrow Day 2026 And Happy First Day Of Spring","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"World Sparrow Day started in 2010 as a way to honor and protect House Sparrows in their native range because they are declining there.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Savannah Sparrow on a tuft of grasses, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savannah-sparrow-tuft-grass-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-1088.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savannah-sparrow-tuft-grass-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-1088.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savannah-sparrow-tuft-grass-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-1088.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savannah-sparrow-tuft-grass-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-1088.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/10\/singing-adult-savannah-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":142772,"position":2},"title":"Singing Adult Savannah Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This singing adult Savannah Sparrow was photographed on the road that goes to the auto tour route five days ago and I took a nice series of photos of this bird.","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":"Singing Savannah Sparrow, 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-4200.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-4200.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-4200.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-4200.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":142772,"position":3},"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":2775,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/18\/the-savannah-sparrows-of-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":142772,"position":4},"title":"The Savannah Sparrows of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"These Savannah Sparrows were nearly as much fun to observe as they were to photograph. They are very active birds and it was a challenge to keep up with them","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Savannah Sparrow wing stretch, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-fluttering-mia-mcpherson-7466.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-fluttering-mia-mcpherson-7466.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-fluttering-mia-mcpherson-7466.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-fluttering-mia-mcpherson-7466.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90168,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/10\/adult-savannah-sparrow-in-summit-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":142772,"position":5},"title":"Adult Savannah Sparrow in Summit County","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week I photographed this adult Savannah Sparrow just outside the town of Kamas, Utah before heading up into the Uinta Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Savannah Sparrow in Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-on-a-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-4781.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-on-a-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-4781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-on-a-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-4781.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-on-a-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-4781.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\/142772","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=142772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}