With the days in New Jersey growing gradually colder and shorter, I am always a bit remorseful to see the dwindling of the vibrant insects that I like to photograph.  Other wildlife like Reptiles and Amphibians also become less active.  However, the cooler airs bring visiting songbirds that seldom or never breed in our Mid-Atlantic region.  The Savannah Sparrow is a grassland bird with very fragmented breeding habitat in NJ, but the birds that bred further North now visit in search of food.

A migrant Sparrow pauses very briefly in New Jersey atop the fence of a local ball field. Photo taken handheld with the Tamron SP 150-600mm VC Lens and the Canon EOS 7D.

Above photo of a Savannah Sparrow was taken handheld with the Tamron SP 150-600mm VC Lens and the Canon EOS 7D.  A manual exposure of 1/500th F/8 ISO 400 was set, and I believe this is the only frame where I captured a good head angle before the small bird flew off.