{"id":18504,"date":"2015-01-09T05:26:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T12:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=18504"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:44:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:44:50","slug":"juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-close-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/09\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-close-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow Close Ups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-150949 size-full\" title=\"White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on sagebrush, Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg\" alt=\"White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on sagebrush, Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on sagebrush &#8211; Nikon D810, f13, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week I was able to photograph a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow up close while it fed on sagebrush seeds on Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n<p>The sparrow was so close that I had to turn off my limiter and thought about switching from DX mode to FX mode just to keep the whole bird in the frame.<\/p>\n<p>I decided to stick with DX mode which uses a cropped sensor and hope for the best.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-150954 size-full\" title=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on sagebrush seeds in Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on sagebrush seeds in Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2742.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on sagebrush seeds &#8211; Nikon D810, f13, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because I was so close to the feeding sparrow I also had to stop down to f13 to keep the whole bird and most of the sagebrush in focus.<\/p>\n<p>In the two minutes I photographed this White-crowned I took 198 images of it so I still have a lot of them to sort through and edit.<\/p>\n<p>I like how both of the images show the streaked back and wing patterns of the juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow.<\/p>\n<p>Life is good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>My Nikon D810 gives me the option of switching from DX mode that uses the cropped sensor and FX mode which uses the whole sensor or full frame.<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/white-crowned-sparrow-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my White-crowned Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week I was able to photograph a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow up close while it fed on sagebrush seeds on Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150949,"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":[511,27,1022,26,356],"tags":[4142,4067,4071,4057,855,4195,4327,4256],"class_list":["post-18504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-close-up","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-sagebrush","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4Os","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/22\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-in-early-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow In Early Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Although White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) are year round residents in Utah I see far more of them in the fall, winter and early spring and because it is cold they also are \"stickier\" and allow closer approaches.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on a dead sagebrush, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1935.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1935.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1935.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1935.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4581,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/03\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while I was out photographing on Antelope Island State Park I came across a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows right next to the road.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3922,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/30\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":2},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow ~ Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"White-crowned Sparrows can be seen foraging in the grasses, rabbitbrush and sagebrush that grow along the edge of the road.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow perched in frost-covered Rabbitbrush near the causeway to Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-1703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-1703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-1703.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-1703.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9950,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/24\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-foraging\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow foraging","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately I have been seeing White-crowned Sparrows in the West Desert, at Farmington Bay WMA and Antelope Island State Park in increasing numbers and many of them will over winter here in the Salt Lake Valley.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow foraging on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-3454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-3454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-3454.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-3454.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49052,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/20\/adult-and-juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":4},"title":"Adult and Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning while looking for birds to photograph on Antelope Island State Park I had two White-crowned Sparrows fly into a rabbitbrush that was so close to me that all I could do was take portraits of them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunny White-crowned Sparrow portrait, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49021,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/18\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-feeding-on-wild-sunflower-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":5},"title":"White-crowned Sparrow Juvenile Feeding On Wild Sunflower Seeds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been seeing plenty of White-crowned Sparrows on Antelope Island State Park of late and yesterday they were busy feeding on the wild sunflowers that grow there.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on wild sunflower seeds, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.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\/18504","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=18504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}