{"id":58712,"date":"2019-06-22T05:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T11:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=58712"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:03:17","slug":"singing-song-sparrow-versus-a-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/22\/singing-song-sparrow-versus-a-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing Song Sparrow Versus A Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160604 size-full\" title=\"Adult Song Sparrow trying to keep its balance in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Song Sparrow trying to keep its balance in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4278.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult Song Sparrow trying to keep its balance in a wind &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Two days ago I was photographing an adult Song Sparrow in a Wasatch Mountain canyon when a wind came through which not only made it difficult for the sparrow to keep its balance it also made it challenging for me to keep the bouncing sparrow in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<p>The sparrow was perched in a serviceberry away from the road and if I had been any closer to it I would have missed quite a few shots while the wind bounced the bird and the top of the bush around.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160608 size-full\" title=\"Song Sparrow singing in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg\" alt=\"Song Sparrow singing in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Song Sparrow singing in a wind &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>During slight breaks in the wind the sparrow seemed compelled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/449270\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">sing<\/span><\/a> before the next gust of wind bounced it around some more.<\/p>\n<p>I have to admit there were a few times that I felt a little dizzy trying to track the bouncing bird with my long lens <em>while<\/em> trying to keep the bird in focus.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160612 size-full\" title=\"Song Sparrow perched on a Serviceberry in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289.jpg\" alt=\"Song Sparrow perched on a Serviceberry in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-mia-mcpherson-4289.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Song Sparrow perched on a Serviceberry in a wind &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Just seconds after I took this photo I think the Song Sparrow decided it had had enough of the wind because it took off and left the bouncy serviceberry perch. I can&#8217;t say as I blame the sparrow, the wind was bothering me too.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/song-sparrow-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Song Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just seconds after I took this photo I think the Song Sparrow decided it had had enough of the wind because it took off and left the bouncy serviceberry perch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,204,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,4202,4069,4104,6698,4179,4023,855,4195,5361],"class_list":["post-58712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-song-sparrows","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-canyon","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-serviceberry","tag-singing-2","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-wind"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fgY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70922,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/16\/adult-song-sparrow-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":0},"title":"Adult Song Sparrow Up Close","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There have been a few times that the Song Sparrows have gotten so close to me that I've felt as if I could almost reach out and touch them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Song Sparrow close up, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115165,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/13\/immature-song-sparrow-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":1},"title":"Immature Song Sparrow Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, while I was up in the Wasatch Mountain Range, I took several immature Song Sparrow photos in different areas of the mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Song Sparrow with ripe serviceberries, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/song-sparrow-immature-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7501.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/song-sparrow-immature-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7501.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/song-sparrow-immature-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7501.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/song-sparrow-immature-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7501.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103942,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/07\/summer-vesper-sparrow-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":2},"title":"Summer Vesper Sparrow Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today my post is focused on a little brown bird with a wonderful song I photographed yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains. The LBB was a handsome Vesper Sparrow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vesper Sparrow fluffing its feathers, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/vesper-sparrow-summer-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/vesper-sparrow-summer-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/vesper-sparrow-summer-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3187.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/vesper-sparrow-summer-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3187.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100931,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/20\/world-sparrow-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":3},"title":"World Sparrow Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is World Sparrow Day and since I love all of the sparrows on the planet I thought I'd share some of the sparrows I have photographed in North America.","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":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow in a hackberry tree, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.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-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101789,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/25\/song-sparrow-on-a-cold-spring-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":4},"title":"Song Sparrow On A Cold Spring Morning And My Fox Sparrow Disappointment","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing photos of a Song Sparrow I found yesterday morning high in the mountains where the temps were so low that frost had formed overnight.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffed up and cold Song Sparrow, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/song-sparrow-adult-chilly-mia-mpcherson-8656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/song-sparrow-adult-chilly-mia-mpcherson-8656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/song-sparrow-adult-chilly-mia-mpcherson-8656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/song-sparrow-adult-chilly-mia-mpcherson-8656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58944,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/11\/back-side-view-of-an-adult-song-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":58712,"position":5},"title":"Back Side View Of An Adult Song Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a few days ago I was listening to Song Sparrows singing on the East Coast and yesterday I was listening to them singing in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Back side view of a Song Sparrow, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/song-sparrow-adult-back-view-mia-mcpherson-7140.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/song-sparrow-adult-back-view-mia-mcpherson-7140.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/song-sparrow-adult-back-view-mia-mcpherson-7140.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/song-sparrow-adult-back-view-mia-mcpherson-7140.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\/58712","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=58712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}