Sagebrush Sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) - 30Nov2015

Some words from the Cornell website: "The Sagebrush Sparrow is an elegant sparrow intimately tied to the great open spaces of the intermountain West. They live among sagebrush and other shrubs, where they forage mostly on the ground for insects and seeds. In early summer, males sing an abrupt, lively song from the shrub tops, where their soft gray upperparts complement the muted, gray-green sage. These sparrows depend on intact, relatively undisturbed tracts of sage for their breeding success; they winter in desert scrub and grasslands in the Southwest and Mexico."

Care must be taken to separate the Sagebrush Sparrow from the Bell's which on wintering grounds overlap.

This Sagebrush Sparrow was photographed at the famous "Thrasher Spot" west of Phoenix, AZ.