{"id":165532,"date":"2025-12-10T07:17:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=165532"},"modified":"2025-12-26T09:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T15:47:24","slug":"low-light-savannah-sparrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/10\/low-light-savannah-sparrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Light Savannah Sparrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LowLow light Savannah Sparrow \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f9, 1\/400, ISO 2000, Canon RF 100-500mm at 472mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I had watched the sparrow make their way down a vine to ground level before I started taking photos. The vines were rather messy looking, and ground level views of the bird were a little less so.<\/p>\n

Viewed larger, I can see my Jeep in the eye of the Savannah Sparrow, that is how close the bird was.<\/p>\n

I do not see Savannah Sparrows here year round, so whenever I can, I try to have them in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

Savannah Sparrows are smaller and daintier than the White-crowned, White-throated, and Fox Sparrows I see in this area during the fall and winter, but I adore them just the same.<\/p>\n

Despite how challenging they can be to photograph and identify, sparrows are a favorite of mine. I like challenges.<\/p>\n

Yesterday while at the refuge, I found this spot where I could see more than 15 to 20 Savannah Sparrows<\/span><\/a> at the same time. The leafless vines gave the sparrows cover when they needed it, and it was surrounded by grassy areas that this species prefers.<\/p>\n

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and photographing all the sparrows I found in that location.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165528,"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":[4004,970,13984,4620,156,4194,229,855,4195],"class_list":["post-165532","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-autumn","tag-bottomlands","tag-fall","tag-low-light-2","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/savannah-sparrow-sequoyah-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3070.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-H3S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":142772,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/11\/savannah-sparrow-in-a-breeze\/","url_meta":{"origin":165532,"position":0},"title":"Savannah Sparrow In A Breeze","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been seeing and hearing Savannah Sparrows for weeks now. Yesterday, I had this Savannah Sparrow in my viewfinder at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Savannah Sparrow in a breeze, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/savannah-sparrow-spring-vine-mia-mcpherson-4939.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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 "Birds"","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, 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foraging for prey, 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-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9648.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-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9648.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/savannah-sparrow-foraging-mia-mcpherson-9648.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":165532,"position":4},"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 "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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, 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They are very active birds and it was a challenge to keep up with them","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165532","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=165532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}