When I first started photographing birds, all sparrow looked the same to me—they were all nondescript little brown birds. Over time I have come to appreciate the subtle variations in color and markings that help to differentiate the species, although identification is still a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition for me.
I spotted this handsome sparrow on Monday as I was exploring at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I believe that it is a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), one of the relatively common sparrow species where I live. I really like the sparrow’s perch and the fact that it includes some of the dried leaves that will soon be falling from the branch. The white skies in the background give this image an almost wintry feel, though it is way too early for me to be even thinking of snow.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
So happy, pretty bird. Nice capture, Mike.
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Until I started photo in birds that come to our feeder I didn’t realize the difference between sparrows. I still have to work at distinguishing them.
Very nice Mike! Nice Sparrow image!
Sparrows are really tricky to identify because they have variability and the juveniles don’t look like the adults. But you did a good job identifying this song sparrow, and the photo is beautiful, Mike. I would’ve thought it was a snowy background if you hadn’t said otherwise. Winter light.
Looks like he’s ready to blend in with winter. Nice photo, Mike.
Handsome he is–that’s the word that came immediately to mind even before I read it in your description. Also sleek and sassy.
Very nice Mike! Nice Sparrow image!
Thanks, Reed. It’s going to be mostly birds now that the weather has dropped down to the 50’s and we’ve had our first frost.
That does look like snow. You semed at eye level so I wouldn’t have guessed it to be the sky. Very nice clear sharp image, Mike.
Thanks, Steve. No snow for us yet, though I suspect that you had some recently.
Yes, we had some Friday and may get a bit more tomorrow.
As someone who has studied French, you’re probably aware that piaf is both a colloquial word for ‘sparrow’ and the adopted name of a popular 20th-century singer.
I am quite familiar with some of the songs of Edith Piaf, but I must confess that I did not know that piaf a colloquial word for a sparrow. Thanks for enlightening me, Steve.
Switching from Édith Gassion to Édith Piaf had the same rationale as calling opera singer Jenny Lind the Swedish nightingale.