{"id":97476,"date":"2021-11-20T06:13:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T13:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97476"},"modified":"2025-10-17T06:57:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:57:30","slug":"autumn-song-sparrow-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/20\/autumn-song-sparrow-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn Song Sparrow Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-97472 size-full\" title=\"Autumn Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood, 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\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Autumn Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Early in November, on the day that I found my first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/05\/my-first-white-throated-sparrow-sighting-in-utah\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">White-throated Sparrow in Utah<\/span><\/a>, I photographed other birds that I haven&#8217;t yet shared here.<\/p>\n<p>Today I wanted to share one photo of a Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood in the beautiful light of a cool autumn morning.<\/p>\n<p>This Song Sparrow didn&#8217;t sing while it was in my viewfinder but as I recall it was its song that clued me in on where the sparrow was. I love listening to this species <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/663745\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">sing<\/span><\/a>. It is easy to smile when I hear their songs.<\/p>\n<p>Both the common and scientific name for these sparrows suit them well because they both indicate that this species sings and they do sing a lot. The scientific name is\u00a0<i>Melospiza melodia<\/i> and the melodia part is for melody. These sparrows are songsters that may have a repertoire with as many as twenty tunes and many variations of those tunes.<\/p>\n<p>Song Sparrows are a well known, wide spread species with 24 diagnosable subspecies in North America.\u00b9 During the spring, summer, and fall in northern Utah I see this species in a variety of habitats including high in the mountains along streams and creeks, marshes and wetlands in the valleys, and desert scrub and sagebrush habitats.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t recall ever seeing a Song Sparrow in my garden in Virginia but that may have been because at the time my garden was surrounded by a thick forest.<\/p>\n<p>Song Sparrows are often confused with some of the other members of the sparrow family but by paying attention to field marks, behavior, and song I find them relatively easy to identify. Still, I hear the &#8220;Is it a Song Sparrow?&#8221; question quite often when I am in field.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate and enjoy every encounter I have with Song Sparrows no matter what time of the year it is or what kind of habitat I find them in.<\/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<p>\u00b9 <a href=\"https:\/\/birdsoftheworld.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">BirdsOfTheWorld.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I wanted to share one photo of a Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood in the beautiful light of a cool autumn morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97472,"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],"tags":[4004,970,4620,1830,4094,4202,4104,1831,4023,855,4195,4095],"class_list":["post-97476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-song-sparrows","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-fall","tag-greasewood","tag-marsh","tag-melospiza-melodia","tag-perched","tag-sarcobatus-vermiculatus","tag-song-sparrow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/song-sparrow-on-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pmc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110201,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/13\/perky-song-sparrow-on-a-greasewood-perch\/","url_meta":{"origin":97476,"position":0},"title":"Perky Song Sparrow On A Greasewood Perch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday I had a few seconds to photograph a perky Song Sparrow perched on a greasewood at Farmington Bay WMA just before I started to head towards home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perky Song Sparrow on a greasewood, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/song-sparrow-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2890.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/song-sparrow-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2890.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/song-sparrow-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2890.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/song-sparrow-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-2890.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115905,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/16\/young-song-sparrow-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":97476,"position":1},"title":"Young Song Sparrow at Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was visiting Farmington Bay WMA last week, a young Song Sparrow showed up in my viewfinder and perched in a greasewood shrub for a few moments.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Song Sparrow at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/song-sparrow-immature-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-9465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/song-sparrow-immature-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-9465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/song-sparrow-immature-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-9465.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/song-sparrow-immature-greasewood-mia-mcpherson-9465.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":97476,"position":2},"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":54854,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/03\/adult-white-crowned-sparrows-feeding-on-greasewood-seeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":97476,"position":3},"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":49010,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/17\/antelope-island-sagebrush-sparrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":97476,"position":4},"title":"Antelope Island Sagebrush Sparrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a real treat for me yesterday morning to photograph another Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted it pop up on a clump of greasewood.","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":"Adult Sagebrush Sparrow on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sagebrush-sparrow-perched-mia-mcpherson-7236.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":97476,"position":5},"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, 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