{"id":70991,"date":"2020-06-21T05:30:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T11:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70991"},"modified":"2025-10-17T06:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:27:42","slug":"song-sparrow-adult-with-a-bill-full-of-prey-for-its-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/21\/song-sparrow-adult-with-a-bill-full-of-prey-for-its-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Song Sparrow Adult With A Bill Full Of Prey For Its Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Song Sparrow with prey for its young \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I found an adult Song Sparrow to photograph with its bill full of prey that the sparrow had gathered to feed its young. The sparrow didn’t stick around but they were in my viewfinder long enough for me to take a short series of images of it with the exposed rocks of a canyon wall in the Wasatch Mountains behind it.<\/p>\n

With Song Sparrows the females do all of the incubation and brooding but the males remain nearby and when the chicks hatch the males help to feed them. Typically the young of Song Sparrows are only 10 days old when they fledge and leave the nest and they are flying by 16 to 17 days old. That seems super fast to me!<\/p>\n

\"SongSong Sparrow with prey for its chicks \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I did not hear or see chicks while I photographed this adult but there were plenty of shrubs and tall grass clumps nearby that might have concealed the nest and the young from my view.<\/p>\n

When I viewed the Song Sparrow images at full resolution it appeared to me that most of the prey in the bill of this adult was an assortment of adult mayflies so the sparrow may have been foraging near the creek that was below where I photographed it.<\/p>\n

After some research online I think the mayflies might be Speckled Duns but I can’t be certain about that. Mayflies spend most of their lives in the water and only live one day as adults during which time they mate and lay eggs.<\/p>\n

Mayfly hatches are fascinating to see but if a person doesn’t like insects the clouds of mayflies might creep them out.<\/p>\n

Very soon I should be able to find and photograph young Song Sparrows<\/span><\/a> in the Wasatch Mountains and I’m very much looking forward to that.<\/p>\n

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

And Happy Father’s Day to all the excellent fathers in my life and around the globe!<\/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":"

Three days ago I found an adult Song Sparrow to photograph with its bill full of prey that the sparrow had gathered to feed its young.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160656,"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":[4004,3940,4068,1130,10077,10076,4202,4069,4104,4106,4023,855,4195,10078,165,4193],"class_list":["post-70991","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-chicks","tag-food","tag-mayflies","tag-mayfly","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-prey","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-speckled-duns","tag-spring","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-with-prey-mia-mcpherson-8216.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-it1","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":70991,"position":0},"title":"Adult 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12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Photographing a Song Sparrow eating a snail yesterday morning as it foraged in a creek in the Wasatch Mountains was a unique experience for me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow with a snail in its bill, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/song-sparrow-adult-creek-snail-mia-mcpherson-6111.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/song-sparrow-adult-creek-snail-mia-mcpherson-6111.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/song-sparrow-adult-creek-snail-mia-mcpherson-6111.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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