Song Sparrow Gallery

All of these pictures are of the Northwestern race and were taken at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington.

A song sparrow with an insect larvae in its mouth at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Bug Breakfast

A song sparrow and a red-winged blackbird were both collecting what I assume are the larval form of insects in this little patch of sticks and duckweed in front of a culvert. After determining that they didn’t mind my presence, I lay down on my stomach atop the culvert and photographed them.

Each bird had a different hunting technique, the blackbird cleared an area by using her beak, while the sparrow kicked at the duckweed with its feet.

Winston, Is That You?

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns. Winston Churchill

When I saw this plump song sparrow holding out this bug like Winston chomping on his famous cigar, I couldn’t help but think perhaps he was reincarnated as a little brown bird as punishment for his quip about colors.

A song sparrow with seeds on its beak sits in a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Simple

A simple portrait of one of our most common sparrows, the song sparrow. I had seen them feeding on seeds on the ground near this tree, so one day I hung out and waited for one to rest for a moment in the safety of the tree. It took a while, as even when they flew up they were usually obscured by the many branches, but I eventually got a view I liked. You can see the remains of the seeds on the sparrow's beak.

Variations

Song sparrows are spread across the continental United States and overall have a similar look, but ours here in the Northwest are darker than eastern birds.

Song sparrow at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Why I Can't Kick My Ridgefield Addiction

I go to Ridgefield a lot. A lot. There are a number of places here in the Northwest that I'd like to visit more, but Ridgefield is a hard habit to give up, offering up beautiful looks at even the Little Brown Birds. I found these singing song sparrows in the spring of 2008 and 2009 at the edge of a marsh. They mostly stayed down and out of the way of the marauding blackbirds but did pop up occasionally to belt out a song.

Song sparrow singing at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A song sparrow sings from a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Song sparrow singing from a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Song sparrow perched on a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

On The Lookout

Our song sparrows are very active late in the winter and early in the spring, you can see and hear them from a variety of places around a refuge like Ridgefield. This little fellow appears to be on the lookout from the tall vantage point provided by the cattails, but I was the one on the lookout.

I always check this little batch of cattails on the auto tour, as the cattails make for some beautiful perches and foreground elements, yet the surrounding slough behind fades to a pleasing blur. You can sometimes find marsh wrens, blackbirds, and sparrows here, and on this day it was the song sparrow that was there to greet me.

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