Field Sparrow

Spizella pusilla

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family EMBERIZIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Field Sparrow is a common, drab sparrow of brushy pastures and old fields. It has a simple, yet distinctive song of repeated clear whistled notes on one pitch that increase in rate until they make a trill.

Cool Facts

• The Field Sparrow often feeds directly on fallen seeds. It may fly to the top of grass stalks, let its weight carry the stems to the ground, and then begin removing the seed.

• If a male Field Sparrow survives the winter, it usually returns to breed in the same territory each year. The female is less likely to return to the same territory, and young sparrows only rarely return the next year to where they were born.

• The male Field Sparrow starts singing as soon as he gets back in the spring. He sings vigorously until he finds a mate, but after that he sings only occasionally.

Description

• Size: 12-15 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 20 cm (8 in)
• Weight: 11-15 g (0.39-0.53 ounces)

• Small sparrow.
• Dully marked.
• Unstreaked chest.
• Reddish cap.
• Gray face with thin white eyering.
• Bill pink.

• Long tail.
• Crown and back rusty brown.
• Rusty brown streak behind eye and on ear feathers.
• Two white wingbars.
• Tail brown, edged with pale gray.
• Legs pink.
• Eyes black.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike, males slightly larger.

Immature

Juvenile duller in color, with narrow dusky streaking on chest, sides, and crown.

Similar Species

• American Tree Sparrow has a dark upper bill, a distinct reddish eyestripe, and a spot in the middle of its chest.
• Chipping Sparrow has a distinct black eyestripe and white or buffy eyebrow.

Sound

Song a series of clear whistled notes, increasing in rate until they become a trill, much in the same pattern as a bouncing ball.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from eastern Montana eastward to southern Quebec and southern Maine, and southward to central Texas and northwestern Florida.

Winter Range

Winters from Kansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts southward to very northeastern Mexico and northern Florida.

Habitat

• Breeds in old fields, woodland openings, and edges.
• Winters in fields and forest edges.

Food

Insects and small seeds.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds on ground or in low-lying vegetation.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of large grass pieces interwoven with finer grasses. Lined with fine grasses, rootlets, and hair. Placed on or near ground in grass clumps or at base of shrubs.

Egg Description

Creamy white with dark spots.

Clutch Size

2-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse tufts of down.

Conservation Status

Declining throughout range.

Other Names

Bruant des champs (French)
Chimbito Llanero (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Carey, M. D. E. Burhans, and D. A. Nelson. 1994. Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla). In The Birds of North America, No. 103 (A. Poole, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.