{"id":62034,"date":"2019-12-13T06:23:27","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T13:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62034"},"modified":"2024-09-24T17:34:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T22:34:19","slug":"portrait-of-an-adult-white-crowned-sparrow-eating-greasewood-seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/13\/portrait-of-an-adult-white-crowned-sparrow-eating-greasewood-seeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Portrait Of An Adult White-crowned Sparrow Eating Greasewood Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-134980 size-full\" title=\"Adult White-crowned Sparrow feeding on Greasewood seeds\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103.jpg\" alt=\"Adult White-crowned Sparrow feeding on Greasewood seeds, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis 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\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult White-crowned Sparrow feeding on Greasewood seeds &#8211; Nikon D500, f11, 1\/400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Back in October I was able to take photos of an adult White-crowned Sparrow that was munching on the seeds of a greasewood that was so close to the road that I could only take portraits of it with my bird gear. I appreciate being able to take close ups of birds because they can show fine details in their faces that usually aren&#8217;t seen as well in full body photos.<\/p>\n<p>When I look at this White-crowned Sparrow portrait I can count the orbital feathers of the bottom portion of the bird&#8217;s eye and the rictal bristles near the bill. I can see the separation of the individual feathers on its breast plus I can make out fine details in the greasewood seed. I&#8217;m glad this sparrow was close enough to take portraits of it.<\/p>\n<p>Greasewoods are an important food source for birds and small mammals here in Utah. In the spring and early summer when the leaves are green they can make for great perches for my avian subjects whereas at other times of the year their light colored twigs and branches can be so bright that they can be distracting. I grumble about that at times but I am easy to please when it comes to birds and will photograph them no matter where they are.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday was rainy and so is this morning and I am itching to get back out into the field to photograph and visit with birds but it looks like Sunday might be the earliest I will be able to get back out there.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/white-crowned-sparrow-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my White-crowned Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I look at this White-crowned Sparrow portrait I can count the orbital feathers of the bottom portion of the bird&#8217;s eye and the rictal bristles near the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134980,"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":[27,1022,697,26,356],"tags":[4004,970,4142,4286,4620,4040,1830,4046,1831,2135,855,4195,4327,4256],"class_list":["post-62034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","category-white-crowned-sparrows","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-close-up","tag-eating","tag-fall","tag-feeding","tag-greasewood","tag-portrait","tag-sarcobatus-vermiculatus","tag-seeds","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-white-crowned-sparrow","tag-zonotrichia-leucophrys"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4103.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-g8y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54854,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/03\/adult-white-crowned-sparrows-feeding-on-greasewood-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":0},"title":"Adult White-crowned Sparrows Feeding On Greasewood Seeds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I photographed American Goldfinches, House Finches and White-crowned Sparrows that were busy feeding on greasewood seeds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow lifting off from a greasewood, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-5647.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-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-5647.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-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-5647.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42418,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/05\/white-crowned-sparrow-adults-feeding-on-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":1},"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":96961,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/05\/my-first-white-throated-sparrow-sighting-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":2},"title":"My First White-throated Sparrow Sighting In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I found my first White-throated Sparrow in Utah, photographed it, and when I pointed it out to a friend this sparrow became a lifer for them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-throated Sparrow perched on a greasewood, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/white-throated-sparrow-adult-farmington-bay-wma-mia-mcpherson-2496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/white-throated-sparrow-adult-farmington-bay-wma-mia-mcpherson-2496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/white-throated-sparrow-adult-farmington-bay-wma-mia-mcpherson-2496.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/white-throated-sparrow-adult-farmington-bay-wma-mia-mcpherson-2496.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121898,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/26\/winter-white-crowned-sparrow-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":3},"title":"Winter White-crowned Sparrow Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't seen as many sparrows this winter as I typically do, so I was tickled to take a few White-crowned Sparrow portraits at Farmington Bay WMA on Friday.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter White-crowned Sparrow adult portrait, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/white-crowned-sparrow-adult-winter-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9496.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116305,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/27\/interior-west-white-crowned-sparrow-adult\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":4},"title":"Interior West White-crowned Sparrow Adult","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was at Farmington Bay WMA on Monday, I found and photographed a gorgeous Interior West White-crowned Sparrow adult perched on a Greasewood shrub.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Interior West White-crowned Sparrow perched in Greasewood, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/white-crowned-sparrow-fall-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60579,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/30\/photographing-white-crowned-sparrows-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":62034,"position":5},"title":"Photographing White-crowned Sparrows At Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When autumn arrives White-crowned Sparrows are one of the sparrow species that I look forward to photographing at Farmington Bay WMA each year as they move down to lower elevations.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow in early morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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