Song Sparrow Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: When you first start birding in South Dakota, and you're starting to learn bird songs, it's not a bad idea to familiarize yourself with a Song Sparrow. It's a classic song of spring and summer in South Dakota. Honestly, it's not the most melodic or beautiful song in the world, but hey, it's kind of like me! I love to sing along when I listen to the music, and I'm going to give it my all, even though I'm not that great a singer!

Given how common they are I really don't have that many photos from South Dakota. My favorite photo is the one below, from Point Reyes National Seashore in California.

Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia


Song Sparrow 1	Song Sparrow 2	Song Sparrow 3	Song Sparrow 4
April 22nd, 2003	April 15th, 2005	October 10th, 2004	April 19th, 2007
Lake County, South Dakota	Lincoln County, South Dakota	Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Point Reyes National Seashore, California
Belting out a hit on top of a small bush	Sparrow in bush at edge of cattail wetland habitat	Dapper sparrow perched on top of a dead flower	Singing bird on top of coastal scrub vegetation

Song Sparrow 5	Song Sparrow 6	Song Sparrow 7	Song Sparrow 8
October 15th, 2005	April 19th, 2007	April 19th, 2007	October 4th, 2009
Lincoln County, South Dakota	Point Reyes National Seashore, California	Point Reyes National Seashore, California	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Sparrow on top of dead branch with bright blue sky as background	Sparrow in brushy habitat along Pacific coast	Singing Song Sparrow on top of green vegetation	Bird perched on autumn foliage

Song Sparrow 9	Song Sparrow 10	Song Sparrow 11	Song Sparrow 12
October 4th, 2009	October 4th, 2009	April 12th, 2012	August 2013
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island	Ecola State Park, Oregon
Profile of a Song Sparrow at the edge of a wetland	Sparrow foraging on seeds in dead flower heads	Sunny blue sky day and sparrow on dead branch	West coast sparrow on top of blooming plant

Song Sparrow 13	Song Sparrow 14	Song Sparrow 15	Song Sparrow 16
August 2013	October 21st, 2016	October 7th, 2017	October 7th, 2017
Ecola State Park, Oregon	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Scruffy looking, first-year west coast Song Sparrow	Sparrow perched on barbed wire in grassland habitat	Sparrow and OOF background on top of an autumn flower head	Cheeky and inquisitive sparrow looking into the camera

Song Sparrow 17	Song Sparrow 18	Song Sparrow 19	Song Sparrow 20
October 7th, 2017	October 7th, 2017	October 7th, 2017	April 14th, 2019
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Wall Lake, South Dakota
Autumn sparrow on weed stem	Vertical of sparrow clinging to a weed stem	Profile of sparrow in brushy thicket	Sparrow foraging on the ground amidst a spring snow

Song Sparrow 21	Song Sparrow 22
October 12th, 2020	October 12th, 2020
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Song Sparrow profile in warm, early morning light	Sparrow hiding amongst the autumn weeds