{"id":70922,"date":"2020-06-16T05:50:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T11:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70922"},"modified":"2025-10-17T06:18:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:18:23","slug":"adult-song-sparrow-up-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/16\/adult-song-sparrow-up-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Song Sparrow Up Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Song Sparrow up close in a serviceberry – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I know of a location high in the Wasatch Mountains where MacGillivray’s Warblers and Song Sparrows are nesting not too far from each other. The Song Sparrows have been fairly aggressive towards the warblers and any of the other birds that have gotten near their nest.\u00a0 The interactions between the sparrows and the other birds have been interesting to observe and I’ve learned more about the behaviors of the sparrows too.<\/p>\n

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. Not that I would, I just felt that I could.<\/p>\n

I was photographing other birds when this adult Song Sparrow landed in a serviceberry shrub in front of me, called and then the sparrow preened its feathers for a few seconds.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Song Sparrow close up – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the Song Sparrow appeared to look directly towards my lens before it flew off in the direction of its nest. The sparrow was close enough that it may have seen its own reflection on the glass of my lens, I can’t be sure though.<\/p>\n

It shouldn’t be long before the warbler and sparrow eggs hatch in those nests. Things could get interesting when the adults of both species start foraging for food to feed their hungry chicks.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Song Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160651,"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":[27,4594,204,26,773],"tags":[4004,6523,4073,3940,4142,4069,4104,7289,6698,4023,855,4195,165,5245,6522],"class_list":["post-70922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-song-sparrows","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-breeding-season","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-serviceberries","tag-serviceberry","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-territorial","tag-utah-serviceberry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-irU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70653,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/07\/macgillivrays-warblers-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":70922,"position":0},"title":"MacGillivray’s Warblers In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite the difficulties I have finding and photographing MacGillivray's Warblers I will keep trying to take better images of them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male MacGillivray's Warbler perched out in the open, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8888.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":70922,"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 "Birds"","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":70937,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/17\/female-brown-headed-cowbird-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":70922,"position":2},"title":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago one of the birds that the Song Sparrows chased off was an adult female Brown-headed Cowbird that landed on a serviceberry in front of me.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird perched in a Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58712,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/22\/singing-song-sparrow-versus-a-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":70922,"position":3},"title":"Singing Song Sparrow Versus A Wind","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow singing in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.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-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.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":70922,"position":4},"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 "American Tree Sparrows"","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":102157,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/05\/spring-song-sparrow-gathering-nesting-materials\/","url_meta":{"origin":70922,"position":5},"title":"Spring Song Sparrow Gathering Nesting Materials","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Towards the end of April I spent a few minutes photographing an adult Song Sparrow looking for and gathering nesting materials high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow gathering nesting materials, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/song-sparrow-adult-ground-mia-mcpherson-8329.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/song-sparrow-adult-ground-mia-mcpherson-8329.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/song-sparrow-adult-ground-mia-mcpherson-8329.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/song-sparrow-adult-ground-mia-mcpherson-8329.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\/70922","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=70922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}