{"id":48030,"date":"2017-08-07T04:55:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T10:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48030"},"modified":"2025-09-03T04:28:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:28:46","slug":"immature-song-sparrow-sporting-a-messy-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/07\/immature-song-sparrow-sporting-a-messy-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Song Sparrow Sporting a Messy Look"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MessyMessy looking immature Song Sparrow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Birds aren’t always neat looking, feathers wear, birds molt and young birds transitioning from their juvenal plumage into adult plumage can look quite disheveled or messy.<\/p>\n

I spotted a preening sparrow high up on a bush last week while up in the Wasatch Mountains and when I was able to put my lens on it I could see how messy its plumage was.<\/p>\n

It was messy enough that I didn’t feel 100% confident of my identification of immature Song Sparrow as the species and later asked a friend, fellow birder, photographer and bird guide, Mark Stackhouse<\/span><\/a>, what he thought it was and he agreed with my ID.<\/p>\n

His initial response of “It’s sure a ratty-looking beast” still cracks me up. It is<\/em> ratty looking.<\/p>\n

Even though the immature Song Sparrow that I photographed had such messy plumage I am okay with that.<\/p>\n

I like sharing what I see in the field and sometimes that means they aren’t just pretty pictures. At times it means sharing a view of a bird that isn’t often seen unless the person is an ornithologist, bird biologist, researcher, birder, or bird photographer.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Birds aren’t always neat looking, feathers wear, birds molt and young birds transitioning from their juvenal plumage into adult plumage can look quite disheveled or messy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[27,4594,204,26],"tags":[3940,6023,4067,4202,6022,2312,4104,4019,4023,855,4195,4193],"class_list":["post-48030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-song-sparrows","category-utah","tag-canyon","tag-disheveled","tag-immature","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-messy","tag-molt","tag-perched","tag-preening-2","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\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\n\t\t