{"id":162642,"date":"2025-11-03T06:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=162642"},"modified":"2026-03-14T06:54:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:54:50","slug":"swamp-sparrow-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/11\/03\/swamp-sparrow-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Swamp Sparrow At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AutumnAutumn Swamp Sparrow at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f11, 1\/1000, ISO 2000, +1.0 EV, Canon RF 800mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Swamp Sparrows don\u2019t breed in Oklahoma. They spend time in east central Oklahoma during their nonbreeding season from October through April, which allows me to see, hear, and photograph them.<\/p>\n

Before this Swamp Sparrow came into view, I could see several of them moving around in the brush I had parked close to.<\/p>\n

The last time I was at the refuge, I spotted Swamp, White-throated, White-crowned, and Lincoln’s Sparrows in the brush and sumacs near a field. My plan yesterday was to park, sit, and wait to see if any of them would come out into the open in that area.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for me, this sparrow did just that.<\/p>\n

\"SwampSwamp Sparrow perched on a sumac branch \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f11, 1\/1000, ISO 2000, +1.0 EV, Canon RF 800mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The refuge has bottomland hardwood forests that seem to attract several sparrow species during the fall, winter, and early spring. I love it, I truly adore sparrows!<\/p>\n

This Swamp Sparrow doesn’t have as rich a reddish-brown tone on its wings as I am used to seeing in this species, so it may be an immature hatch year bird. Its cap is also more brown than rusty, which made me wonder if it was a hatch year bird.<\/p>\n

No matter the age of this Swamp Sparrow<\/span><\/a>, I was delighted to have them in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

I took photos of a Swamp Sparrow in Utah on Halloween of 2022, which was a complete surprise for me since they are uncommon in that area. Read more about that here: Surprise Swamp Sparrow At Bear River MBR<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162637,"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":[27,13973,13974,13425],"tags":[970,16920,13984,4897,4620,15527,13426,4104,16922,6188,16921,855,4195,7630,13427,4427],"class_list":["post-162642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","category-swamp-sparrows","tag-autumn","tag-bottomland","tag-bottomlands","tag-branch","tag-fall","tag-hardwood-forest","tag-melospiza-georgiana","tag-perched","tag-rhus-glabra","tag-shrub","tag-smooth-sumac","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-sumac","tag-swamp-sparrow","tag-tree"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t