Four Feathers Studio

Song Sparrows are always amongst the first arrivals in spring, and sing they do! Marking their territory, their song is heard many times a day throughout the spring and early summer. By mid-summer their song has quieted as the first brood of fledglings are leaving the nest, and then I mostly hear either the chip alarm calls (as I pass too closely by a nesting site) or the small chatter amongst family members. This summer, Wonderland has had record numbers of Song Sparrows; they must have had at least 3-4 broods. They are always seen foraging on the ground, stopping by the backyard feeder, daily baths in the birdbath, and popping in and out of shrubs and garden edges. They often appear at the edge of the lawn and field, like the baseball players coming out of the corn in Field of Dreams, which makes me giggle because they totally reenact that scene to perfection. They emerge one at time, pausing to look for the others who make their way out into the sunshine from the undercover and shadows of field grasses and wildflowers. I haven’t seen Shoeless Joe yet, but I like to think his bird counterpart is in there somewhere. 

 

So, needless to say I have many, many, many photographs of Song Sparrows—singing, preening, flying, nesting, and one of my favorites makes it into the 2025 calendar for the month of May. It is rarer than you might think to catch two birds together close enough and long enough to photograph, and these two were lovely enough to oblige. Most definitely fledglings and maybe siblings, the one on the right seems a day or two older by the mature look of indifference towards me, while the (imagined) younger one on the left is offering me a flirtatious head nod and smile (again imagined.) I absolutely love these two and looking at them always reminds me of my siblings and childhood.