{"id":35153,"date":"2016-01-29T05:37:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T12:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35153"},"modified":"2025-03-29T04:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T09:13:05","slug":"juvenile-and-adult-white-crowned-sparrows-on-a-tree-branch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/29\/juvenile-and-adult-white-crowned-sparrows-on-a-tree-branch\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile And Adult White-crowned Sparrows On A Tree Branch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I was able to photograph juvenile and adult White-crowned Sparrows on the same branch a few minutes apart at a gate at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142185 size-full\" title=\"An adult White-crowned Sparrow on a branch of an apple tree, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736.jpg\" alt=\"An adult White-crowned Sparrow on a branch of an apple tree, Farmington Bay WMA, 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\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">An adult White-crowned Sparrow on a branch &#8211; Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It would have made for a great comparison of plumage had they been perched right next to each other in the same frame but I like the setting of the apple tree branch with other out of focus branches and sky in the background.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142186 size-full\" title=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a branch of an apple tree, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a branch of an apple tree, 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\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a branch &#8211; Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>By looking at both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/White-crowned_Sparrow\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">White-crowned Sparrow<\/span><\/a> images on the same page it is easy to understand why adult and juvenile White-crowned Sparrows can be mistaken for two different species of sparrows because of the differences in their plumage. The juvenile pictured above will start to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/16\/immature-white-crowned-sparrow-molting-to-adult-plumage\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">molt into its adult plumage<\/span><\/a> in just a few months and by the fall will look just like the adult.<\/p>\n<p>This time of the year Farmington Bay WMA has loads of these sparrows foraging and singing in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/white-crowned-sparrow-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my White-crowned Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I was able to photograph juvenile and adult White-crowned Sparrows on the same branch a few minutes apart at a gate at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142185,"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":[27,1022,697,26,356],"tags":[4004,4897,4071,4104,4195,4327,373,4256],"class_list":["post-35153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-adult","tag-branch","tag-juvenile","tag-perched","tag-sparrows","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-winter","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-mia-mcpherson-9736.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-98Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":121898,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/26\/winter-white-crowned-sparrow-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":0},"title":"Winter White-crowned Sparrow Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't seen as many sparrows this winter as I typically do, so I was tickled to take a few White-crowned Sparrow portraits at Farmington Bay WMA on Friday.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter White-crowned Sparrow adult portrait, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11778,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/12\/white-crowned-sparrows-with-frost-and-fluff\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":1},"title":"White-crowned Sparrows with Frost and Fluff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the food items that White-crowned Sparrows depend on during the harsh winters in Utah are the fluffy seeds of the Rabbitbrush that can be covered in hoar frost.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on Rabbitbrush at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-8438.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-immature-mia-mcpherson-8438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-8438.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-immature-mia-mcpherson-8438.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16771,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/08\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-on-a-wild-rose\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":2},"title":"White-crowned Sparrow Juvenile On A Wild Rose","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It was nice to get out yesterday morning and photograph a few birds including this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow perched on a wild rose.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a wild rose, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7894.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-7894.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-7894.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11213,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/27\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-on-a-wild-rose\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a wild Rose","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Simple things in nature delight me so being able to photograph this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a wild rose did just that, it delighted me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a wild Rose stem in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4159.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-4159.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-4159.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17800,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/15\/a-quartet-of-sparrow-species\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":4},"title":"Quartet of Sparrow Species","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately I've been able to photograph 4 different sparrow species between Antelope Island State Park and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Tree Sparrows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Tree Sparrows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/emberzine-sparrows-allies\/american-tree-sparrows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lincoln's Sparrow on a fence rail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/lincolns-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-2042.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/lincolns-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-2042.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/lincolns-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-2042.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/lincolns-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-2042.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17266,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/04\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-on-a-december-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":35153,"position":5},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a December day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A little brown bird (LBB) popped into my view today that I couldn't resist photographing and it was this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow on a December day at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah. Perched on Pigweed","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2147.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-2147.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-2147.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-2147.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\/35153","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=35153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}