{"id":35767,"date":"2016-02-18T05:58:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T12:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35767"},"modified":"2025-07-26T15:35:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T20:35:31","slug":"a-juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-photobombing-an-adult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/18\/a-juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-photobombing-an-adult\/","title":{"rendered":"A Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow Photobombing an Adult"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult White-crowned Sparrow perched – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I was going through older photos I took last February and came across some White-crowned Sparrow images I had taken on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> in the White Rock Bay area that I hadn’t edited or posted before.<\/p>\n

Among those files was this adult White-Crowned Sparrow perched on a bare branch of a greasewood that I liked because of the sparrow’s head turn, the light in its eye, the smooth, creamy background and how the sparrow was framed by the bare branches.<\/p>\n

I locked my focus on the sparrow and took a nice series of this adult in a burst…<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile White-crowned Sparrow photobombing an adult – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And I ended up capturing an image of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow photobombing the adult just a few frames later. I was so focused on the adult I didn’t even see the juvenile flying in.<\/p>\n

Normally I would have deleted this image but over the past couple of years I have begun to keep images of photobombs.<\/p>\n

noun: photobomb<\/strong>; plural noun: photobombs<\/strong>; noun: photo bomb<\/strong>; plural noun: photo bombs:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a photograph that has been spoiled by the unexpected appearance of an unintended subject in the camera’s field of view as the picture was taken.<\/em><\/p>\n

I keep them because they make me laugh.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click 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":"

I ended up capturing an image of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow photobombing the adult just a few frames later. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150992,"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":[4004,4052,4071,4104,2644,4195,1165,4327,4256],"class_list":["post-35767","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-adult","tag-flight","tag-juvenile","tag-perched","tag-photobomb","tag-sparrows","tag-white-rock-bay","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-photobomb-mia-mcpherson-2119.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9iT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42663,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/16\/white-crowned-sparrows-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":35767,"position":0},"title":"White-crowned Sparrows in Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last winter I photographed adult and juvenile White-crowned Sparrows in the snow in low light conditions and was pleased with the resulting photos.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow on a snowy perch, 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-snow-mia-mcpherson-7561.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-snow-mia-mcpherson-7561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-7561.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-snow-mia-mcpherson-7561.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/16\/immature-white-crowned-sparrow-molting-to-adult-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":35767,"position":1},"title":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow Molting To Adult Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My post today is an image of an immature White-crowned Sparrow molting into adult plumage and two images showing a juvenile and an adult for comparison.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow molting to adult plumage, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molting-mia-mcpherson-5660.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-molting-mia-mcpherson-5660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molting-mia-mcpherson-5660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molting-mia-mcpherson-5660.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molt-side-view-mia-mcpherson-4488.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-molt-side-view-mia-mcpherson-4488.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molt-side-view-mia-mcpherson-4488.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-molt-side-view-mia-mcpherson-4488.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":35767,"position":3},"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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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":6405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/22\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-in-early-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":35767,"position":4},"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 "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State 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