We have moved into a season of the year in which it is increasingly difficult for me to find birds to photograph. When the weather is cold and grey, birds seem to be less active and are certainly less visible. Photography, though, is not about efficiency for me—I have come to enjoy my long, mostly solitary walks in nature with my camera irrespective of the actual results.
Consequently I think that I value each of my interactions with wild creatures even more than usual during the winter. For example, last week I worked hard to capture this little portrait of a White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Sparrows are often ignored by many birders and photographers, because of their commonness and drabness, but I enjoy the challenge of trying to photograph them as they move about, scratching and pecking, often buried within bushes and other vegetation.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I call them ‘little flitty things,’ and they are hard to capture. Most of the time I don’t even know what I’m looking at, because I only get a flash of tail feather or a shadow among the vegetation.
I also shouldn’t comment before coffee; I intended to add what a nice portrait this is.
Some folks also call them Little Brown Jobbers (LBJ) and I am sure that there are lots of other names for these mostly non-descript birds. I too am challenged to identify them in the field and am lucky if I am able to do so when I am back at home. 🙂
Good shot! Sweet little bird. Unlike starlings (which we call target practice), these sweet birds would be missed.
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That’s a great winter image, Mike.
Nice Mike! It is a challenge to photograph them because they usually are busy moving about! They are fun to photograph!
Lovely portrait. I like seeing all the details in the plumage with the different feather textures.
That’s a beautiful photo.
Wonderful sweet photo!
A sweet portrait. Unless it is very cold, I’ve noticed that most of the bird activity seems to be before mid-morning and just before dusk. If a storm is pending or it is very bitterly cold, the activity increases. They need the calories!