Vesper Sparrows are large grayish brown sparrows with streaked backs and chests, white eye rings and white outer tail feathers.
I was quite surprised to find a Vesper Sparrow outside my window yesterday after the prolonged spring snowstorm finally left the Salt Lake Valley and Utah.
As this winter drags on, I find myself yearning for the sounds of spring. In particular, I can barely wait to hear the soft morning song of a Vesper Sparrow.
Today my post is focused on a little brown bird with a wonderful song I photographed yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains. The LBB was a handsome Vesper Sparrow.
Today marks seven years of daily posts for me here at On The Wing Photography. Another year has gone by and another milestone has been reached.
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.
While looking through my archives yesterday I came across this image of a Vesper Sparrow I photographed last September near a freshwater seep in Box Elder County.
Friday morning I found this Vesper Sparrow perched on an old fence post next to a dusty road with another sparrow singing from the top of a sage about 100 feet away.
Yesterday morning I heard my first Vesper Sparrow of spring singing high in the Wasatch Mountains. I was enchanted and thrilled at the same time.
Today I am celebrating six years of daily posts without missing a day here at On The Wing Photography. That is two thousand one hundred and ninety-two days of nonstop publication.
I had a great time photographing all of the sparrow species I saw two days ago and I could have stayed with them all morning long. I might do just that later this week.
Earlier this month I spotted my first of year Vesper Sparrow way up north in Box Elder County and since then I have been looking for them closer to home in the Wasatch Mountains.
To my surprise when the Vesper Sparrow lifted off it flew onto the top of another sagebrush that was even closer to me which was nearly perfect for taking portraits of the sparrow and I took full advantage of the opportunity.
The first ID features I noticed yesterday with this Vesper Sparrow were the bright, white eyerings and the rufous lesser coverts and I could make my ID from just those two features.
Yesterday I saw a single Vesper Sparrow which came in and perched out in the open on a lovely Wild Rose that was full of rose hips in nice light. What is not to like about that?
For several weeks I repeatedly saw and heard a Vesper Sparrow in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains and early in July I was able to take some decent images of it as it sang on a metal post.
Vesper Sparrows aren't bright or colorful birds but I find their appearance subtly beautiful in a quiet kind of way and their songs are always a delight to hear in the morning or late afternoon.
I have seen very few juvenile Vesper Sparrows and I have just a handful of images of them so when I spot one in good light I certainly want to do my best to photograph it.
Five evenings ago I was able to photograph a cooperative Vesper Sparrow in Montana's Centennial Valley.
A Vesper Sparrow caught my eye last week as it fluttered and fluffed on an old barb wire fence near the road and I just had to photograph it.
Earlier this week I was enthralled to see the Alaska Basin that straddles Idaho and Montana and winds through Beaverhead National Forest and Targhee National Forest.