{"id":61570,"date":"2019-11-21T06:22:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T13:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61570"},"modified":"2025-04-02T11:07:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T16:07:46","slug":"wild-roses-provide-cover-for-sparrows-finches-and-juncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/21\/wild-roses-provide-cover-for-sparrows-finches-and-juncos\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Roses Provide Cover for Sparrows, Finches And Juncos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature White-crowned Sparrow on top of a wild rose bush \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding birds to photograph isn’t just about having good eyesight. More often than not finding them means having some knowledge about the birds and their basic needs. Knowing what the birds eat is helpful, knowing what habitat the birds prefer certainly is, and knowing what else the birds need aids in finding them too.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult White-crowned Sparrow perched on a colorful autumn wild rose bush \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Small birds like these White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and American Goldfinches need cover that provides safety for them from predators. I know that in the area where I photographed all of these small birds in early November that there are two avian predators that would make a meal out of them lickety-split and those predators would be Cooper’s Hawks and Northern Harriers. I know that because I have seen both of those raptor species dive on small birds in the area.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Goldfinch perched in a wild rose bush \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this location there are quite a few wild rose bushes for these sparrows, juncos and finches to take cover in when the need arises and with a flick of their wings they can dive into the thorny safety of the roses in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n

\"Dark-eyedDark-eyed Junco perched on the tip of a wild rose bush \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There are other bushes nearby that the small birds can also use to thwart the attacks of aerial predators.<\/p>\n

In addition to the cover these small birds have in this location they also have food and water nearby which means they can eat and drink and still be able to dive into the bushes for safety when a Cooper’s Hawk or Northern Harrier flies by.<\/p>\n

\"Dark-eyedDark-eyed Junco and an autumn wild rose \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The sparrows, finches and juncos need food and water to survive but they also need cover nearby from the elements.\u00a0 The birds also need places where they can find shelter from predators and these wild roses provide exactly that for them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Small birds like these White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and American Goldfinches need cover that provides safety for them from predators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136167,"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":[2715,27,1148,2749,26,356],"tags":[2716,970,6863,2750,3504,3495,6198,6199,6036,2751,6037,5633,2513,4311,855,4195,2717,4327,4507,4256],"class_list":["post-61570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-goldfinches","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-dark-eyed-juncos","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-american-goldfinch","tag-autumn","tag-cover","tag-dark-eyed-junco","tag-finch","tag-finches","tag-goldfinch","tag-goldfinches","tag-junco","tag-junco-hyemalis","tag-juncos","tag-rose-bush","tag-roses","tag-safety","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spinus-tristis","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-wild-rose","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-rosebush-mia-mcpherson-9136.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-g14","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74958,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/28\/dark-eyed-junco-and-rabbitbrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":61570,"position":0},"title":"Dark-eyed Junco And Rabbitbrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the Dark-eyed Juncos that I had in my viewfinder was perched on top of a rabbitbrush with seeds and fluff in its bill that turned its head towards me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark-eyed Junco eating rabbitbrush seeds, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-9032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-9032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-9032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-9032.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":168008,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/02\/01\/male-slate-colored-dark-eyed-junco-in-a-snowstorm\/","url_meta":{"origin":61570,"position":1},"title":"Male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco In A Snowstorm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing a simple male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco photo I took one week ago during a snowstorm. The junco was waiting his turn to feed.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco in a snowstorm, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dark-eyed-junco-snowstorm-mia-mcpherson-4546.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dark-eyed-junco-snowstorm-mia-mcpherson-4546.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dark-eyed-junco-snowstorm-mia-mcpherson-4546.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dark-eyed-junco-snowstorm-mia-mcpherson-4546.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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":138176,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/24\/snow-birds-winter-slate-colored-dark-eyed-junco-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":61570,"position":3},"title":"Snow Birds – Winter Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"There is no snow in the forecast, but that won't prevent me from sharing winter Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco images, which are also known as snow birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco in winter, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/dark-eyed-junco-winter-mia-mcpherson-0670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/dark-eyed-junco-winter-mia-mcpherson-0670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Storm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As the snow from the storm fell I noticed some of the Dark-eyed Juncos feeding on the ground and I was able to photograph this junco's portrait as it hid behind a mound of snow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark-eyed Junco portrait in a snow storm, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-3644.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-3644.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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