{"id":48667,"date":"2017-09-27T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48667"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:49:08","slug":"sagebrush-sparrow-my-tiny-nemesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/27\/sagebrush-sparrow-my-tiny-nemesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Sagebrush Sparrow – My Tiny Nemesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SagebrushSagebrush Sparrow perched on a dead greasewood branch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I went back to the location on Antelope Island State Park where I photographed the Yellow-rumped Warblers, Spotted Towhee, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher<\/span><\/a> hoping that some of those migrants would still be around.<\/p>\n

Some of the birds were there but a cold, sharp wind coming from the north seemed to be keeping them down, at least while I was there.<\/p>\n

My best sightings of the morning were an Orange-crowned Warbler and a Hermit Thrush but much to my dismay they were both too far away to get high quality images of them.<\/p>\n

The cold north wind reminded me that I need to stick my gloves in my camera backpack again. My hands hurt because they were so cold yesterday.<\/p>\n

Yesterday when I posted all the small birds I found on Antelope Island<\/span><\/a> (and a few from Farmington Bay), I held back on sharing a few of the species that I saw flitting about, gleaning insects, eating seeds, and hiding in the bushes.<\/p>\n

One of the birds whose images I held back on posting was a Sagebrush Sparrow that I saw pop up and perch on a dead branch of a greasewood.<\/p>\n

Since I moved to Utah I have had this species in my viewfinder a mere three times and they have become my tiny nemesis birds.<\/p>\n

When I saw and photographed the first one I was ill prepared because I was only carrying a 70-300mm VR lens attached to my camera and the bird was just beyond the reach of that lens.<\/p>\n

The second time I had one in my viewfinder it was also too far away and I had a horrible light angle to boot.<\/p>\n

When this Sagebrush Sparrow popped up I had to take photos of it even though I would have liked it to have been a little closer than it was. It didn’t stay there long but I was happy that I was able to photograph it at all.<\/p>\n

Sagebrush Sparrows are very territorial and come back to the same location year after year so what I need to do is find one of their territories next year and go there and just wait for them.<\/p>\n

You can’t find these birds while zipping down a road at 35 mph, not even with my keen eyesight. It just doesn’t happen, they blend into their habitat well.<\/p>\n

I think the Sagebrush Sparrows are beautiful, elegant birds and I want more photos of them than I have! They are heading south now with the other migrants so maybe I will have more opportunities with them before they are gone for the winter.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I think the Sagebrush Sparrows are beautiful, elegant birds and I want more photos of them than I have! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160692,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,482,26],"tags":[4004,2438,970,4098,11978,4620,1830,9070,530,5536,4104,2437,855,4195],"class_list":["post-48667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-sagebrush-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-artemisiospiza-nevadensis","tag-autumn","tag-desert","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-greasewood","tag-island","tag-migration","tag-nemesis","tag-perched","tag-sagebrush-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7283.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cEX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49010,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/17\/antelope-island-sagebrush-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":48667,"position":0},"title":"Antelope Island Sagebrush Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a real treat for me yesterday morning to photograph another Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted it pop up on a clump of greasewood.","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 Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2015","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past week I have been anxiously awaiting my first sighting of Lark Sparrows and yesterday I finally saw them.","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":"Singing Lark Sparrow perched in Sagebrush in northern Utah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-0956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-0956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-0956.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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 "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 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, 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