Tiny but Mighty

This little Song Sparrow found the perfect seat in the breeze.

Generally, life is good.

Adult and Immature White-crowned Sparrows

 

Yesterday my morning on Antelope Island started with the saddest. I saw an injured duck on the shore of the Great Salt Lake and two gulls tearing its feathers out. 

The duck was covered in blood and could not defend itself.  Survival is often brutal  in the wild.

I continued my way further in a terrible mood until I saw two small sparrows on one of the rocks.

The sparrows turned out to be an adult White-crowned Sparrow, it has very bold white and black stripes on the head and an immature White-crowned Sparrow.  Immatures have rusty brown stripes on their gray head.

Photographing these little sparrows was quite difficult. I stayed in the car, afraid of scaring them off, and I had to focus on them almost blindly because the rocks were very high.

Despite the fact that the photographs did not turn out the way I would have liked, I am still happy that I was lucky enough to see an adult and immature White-crowned sparrows together. This doesn't happen very often.

Generally, life is good.

Song Sparrows Are Excellent Vocalists

Song Sparrows are very vocal and sing throughout the year. Their songs can be short and last a few seconds, while others are five seconds long.

Female Song Sparrows are attracted to males that have learned to sing a wider repertoire of songs.  These males can perform about six to twenty different melodies with only slight variations.

The Song Sparrow I photographed two weeks ago in our local park wasn't going to perform his songs in front of me, he just perched briefly on a log and then disappeared. 

Life goes on.

My Favorite Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco

 

I started my bird photography mainly taking photos of different sparrows.  Dark-eyed Junco was one of them.  This little bird with a rounded head, a short bill and rather long conspicuous tail is my favorite sparrow.

I met this Junco a few days ago in our local park and just watched him without even thinking to take his photos. 

As I was about to leave the Junco suddenly stretched forward his tiny body in a matter of seconds, lightly touching the snow.  The stretch was so beautiful, so elegant.

Life goes on.

Curious White-crowned Sparrow

 

This sometimes happens; you photograph a bird, you are motionless for a long time and then suddenly, out of nowhere, another bird appears nearby and starts  to watch you.

That autumn morning on the Great Salt Lake shore, I was photographing American Pipits. At some point I looked over my shoulder and saw a White-crowned Sparrow perching on the bush and watching me.  He was so close that for a few seconds I was afraid to aim at him my lens, what if he would flutter and fly away. 

The Sparrow didn't have any intention to fly away, perhaps curiosity was much stronger than caution.

Generally, life is good!