{"id":6723,"date":"2012-12-07T03:55:39","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T10:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6723"},"modified":"2025-10-16T13:06:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:06:05","slug":"song-sparrows-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/07\/song-sparrows-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Song Sparrows In Winter Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160546 size-full\" title=\"Song Sparrow working at getting some seeds, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg\" alt=\"Song Sparrow working at getting some seeds, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"11508\" 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\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Song Sparrow working at getting some seeds &#8211; Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Song Sparrows are year round residents in Utah but I hear them most often during the winter months as they sing perched high on bushes, rushes, phragmites, or \u00a0cattails.<\/p>\n<p>These two birds were photographed at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in January a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160549 size-full\" title=\"Song Sparrow on a hoar frost covered perch, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830.jpg\" alt=\"Song Sparrow on a hoar frost covered perch, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"11507\" 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\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8830.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Song Sparrow on a hoar frost covered perch &#8211; Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are often heavy fogs in the morning at Farmington because of all the water in the area and during the coldest months that creates hoar frost that covers all the vegetation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Song_Sparrow\/lifehistory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Song Sparrows<\/span><\/a> are found throughout the U.S. and into Canada, some populations move south during the winter to southern states and northern Mexico. So far 30 subspecies of Song Sparrows have been described.<\/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>Song Sparrows are found throughout the U.S. and into Canada, some populations move south during the winter to southern states and northern Mexico. So far 30 subspecies of Song Sparrows have been described. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160546,"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":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,697,204,26],"tags":[4004,3981,4286,4040,4136,3983,4201,4094,4202,4023,855,4195,373],"class_list":["post-6723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-song-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-davis-county","tag-eating","tag-feeding","tag-foraging","tag-frost","tag-hoar-frost","tag-marsh","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Kr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11738,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/10\/song-sparrow-on-a-bitter-cold-winter-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":0},"title":"Song Sparrow On A Bitter Cold Winter Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday the lowest temperature I saw at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area was -12F which reinforces the thought that \"bird photography isn't for everyone\" and that winters in Utah are hard on the birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow on a bitter cold winter day, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-food-mia-mia-mcpherson-6761.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-food-mia-mia-mcpherson-6761.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-food-mia-mia-mcpherson-6761.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-food-mia-mia-mcpherson-6761.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17311,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/11\/so-where-is-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":1},"title":"So Where Is The Snow?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So, is this the year that the Grinch stole winter?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-crowned Sparrow juvenile on a cold winter day in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-snow-mia-mcpherson-8521.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-snow-mia-mcpherson-8521.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-snow-mia-mcpherson-8521.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/white-crowned-sparrow-snow-mia-mcpherson-8521.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":841,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/09\/11\/frost-this-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":2},"title":"Frost This Morning!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I get very excited about small things at times, a colorful sunrise, the sight of a shooting star, the first spring crocus and in the fall; the first time I see frost.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow in the frost, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-frost-mia-mcpherson-7561.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-frost-mia-mcpherson-7561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-frost-mia-mcpherson-7561.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-frost-mia-mcpherson-7561.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/09\/song-sparrow-perched-on-curly-dock\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":3},"title":"Song Sparrow Perched On Curly Dock","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago while photographing some Greater Yellowlegs and Wilson's Snipes at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area a couple of Song Sparrows also found their way into my viewfinder.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow perched on Curly Dock, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-2294.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-winter-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-winter-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1498,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/29\/song-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":4},"title":"Song Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes life gets so busy that it takes me quite awhile to edit some of the images I take, this Song Sparrow photo is one of those.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow on a frosty Utah morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-old-fence-utah-6249.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-mia-mcpherson-old-fence-utah-6249.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-old-fence-utah-6249.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-old-fence-utah-6249.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1591,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/12\/09\/song-sparrow-small-in-frame\/","url_meta":{"origin":6723,"position":5},"title":"Song Sparrow &#8211; Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I like about this image is the pose of the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), the warm tones of the background, the detail and colors","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/farmington-bay-wma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow on frosty phragmites, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-frosty-phragmites-7502.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-mia-mcpherson-frosty-phragmites-7502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-frosty-phragmites-7502.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-frosty-phragmites-7502.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\/6723","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=6723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}