Mike Powell

This White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) seemed unhappy about something on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Maybe it was complaining about my presence there or maybe it was calling out to its mate or expressing its displeasure about the cold, snowy weather. Who knows?

It is a real bonus when I can capture a bit of action in my photos of birds, even when it is hard to interpret what that action means. In many of my shots of sparrows, their heads are buried and out of view as they forage for food, so it was nice here to see the bird with its head lifted up. In this shot you actually get a glimpse of the inside of the sparrow’s mouth and a tiny tongue—you may need to click on the image and enlarge it to see these details.

We are still in the midst of a frigid spell, well below the freezing level all of today, but by Thursday we are supposed to warm up to 60 degrees (17 degrees C) and rain is in the forecast, so most of this snow will be gone in a week or so.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.