{"id":49021,"date":"2017-10-18T05:15:48","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T11:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49021"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:31:16","slug":"white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-feeding-on-wild-sunflower-seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/18\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-feeding-on-wild-sunflower-seeds\/","title":{"rendered":"White-crowned Sparrow Juvenile Feeding On Wild Sunflower Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-161127 size-full\" title=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow flying up a sunflower stalk, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow flying up a sunflower stalk, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"678\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27678%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20678%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27678%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410-200x236.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410-400x472.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410-600x708.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9410.jpg 678w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow flying up a sunflower stalk &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been seeing plenty of White-crowned Sparrows on <a href=\"https:\/\/stateparks.utah.gov\/parks\/antelope-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> of late and yesterday they were busy feeding on the wild sunflowers that grow there. The sunflowers looked gorgeous on the island when they were in full bloom but now most of them have set seeds and the sparrows were taking advantage of the plentiful food supply.<\/p>\n<p>I saw a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow land at the bottom of a sunflower stalk and aimed my lens at it and within a second photographed it as it flew up the sunflower stalk. The setting is a bit cluttered but I do like the pose, the great eye contact and the fluttering wings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-161130 size-full\" title=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on wild sunflower seeds, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on wild sunflower seeds, Antelope Island State Park, 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\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow feeding on wild sunflower seeds &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When the juvenile White-crowned Sparrow reached the top of the sunflower it perched on a spindly stem and tore the seeds from one of the sunflower seed heads for a few seconds before it flew away.<\/p>\n<p>It was fun watching and photographing the blackbirds, magpies and the sparrows feeding of the sunflower seeds yesterday.<\/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>I&#8217;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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161130,"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":[511,27,1022,26,356],"tags":[970,11978,4620,4040,6180,4067,4071,2135,855,4195,6181,5052,4327,1028,4193,4256],"class_list":["post-49021","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-autumn","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-feeding","tag-flying-up","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-seeds","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-stalk","tag-sunflower","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-wild-sunflowers","tag-young","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-9441.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cKF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42418,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/05\/white-crowned-sparrow-adults-feeding-on-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":49021,"position":0},"title":"White-crowned Sparrow Adults Feeding On Seeds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I was able to photograph a few White-crowned Sparrow adults feeding on seeds of rabbitbrush and greasewood on Antelope Island State Park.","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 eating rabbitbrush 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-adult-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6329.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-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6329.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6329.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-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6329.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18504,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/09\/juvenile-white-crowned-sparrow-close-ups\/","url_meta":{"origin":49021,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow Close Ups","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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 sagebrush, Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.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-2786.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-2786.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-2786.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49457,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/16\/adult-white-crowned-sparrow-feeding-on-rabbitbrush-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":49021,"position":2},"title":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow Feeding on Rabbitbrush Seeds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week while on Antelope Island State Park I was able to get some White-crowned Sparrows in my viewfinder, some were pretty far away","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 feeding on Rabbitbrush seeds, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-5668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-5668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-5668.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/white-crowned-sparrow-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-5668.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38227,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/13\/molting-immature-white-crowned-sparrows\/","url_meta":{"origin":49021,"position":3},"title":"Molting Immature White-crowned Sparrows","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"April in northern Utah is a good time to see and photograph molting immature White-crowned Sparrows.","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":"Molting immature White-crowned Sparrow side view, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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":33866,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/03\/immature-white-crowned-sparrow-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":49021,"position":4},"title":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Getting close up images of wild birds is always a thrill for me and having this immature White-crowned Sparrow come in close enough for portrait was a pleasure on the last day of November.","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":"Immature White-crowned Sparrow close up, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3591.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3591.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3591.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3591.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":49021,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49021","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=49021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}