Swamp Sparrow

Melospiza georgiana

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 simple trills of the Swamp Sparrow ring in spring and summer across eastern and central North America. Its name is appropriate, as it does live in swamps, but it can be found in a wide range of other wetland habitats too.

Cool Facts

• The Swamp Sparrow has longer legs than other members of its genus; this adaptation allows it to wade in shallow water to forage.

• The Swamp Sparrow sometimes sticks its head under water to try to capture aquatic invertebrates.

Description

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 18-19 cm (7-7 in)
• Weight: 11-24 g (0.39-0.85 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Unstriped gray chest.
• Reddish cap during breeding; streaked, with gray central stripe when nonbreeding.
• Reddish wings.
• Whitish throat and belly.
• Gray face and sides of neck.

• Dusky eyestripe.
• Rump rusty.
• Black streaks on back.
• Rusty brown flanks.
• Gray chest may have faint streaking.
• Upper bill dark brown, lower mandible yellowish with brown tip.
• Eyes brown.
• Legs brown.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but breeding male has brighter chestnut cap.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but with fine streaking on buffy chest. Immature like adult, but with blurred streaking.

Similar Species

• Immature resembles Lincoln's Sparrow with its dark streaking on a buffy chest. Adult Lincoln's Sparrow has a crisp, not blurred, streaking on breast and flanks, is grayer on the back, and has a distinct thin eyering. Juvenile Lincoln's Sparrow closely resembles juvenile Swamp Sparrow, but crown of Lincoln's is usually streaked, while that of Swamp Sparrow is solid brown or black.

Sound

Song is a slow trill consisting of two or more pitches repeatedly sung essentially at the same time. Call note is a metallic chip.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from eastern Yukon and British Columbia eastward to Labrador, southward to eastern Nebraska to coastal Maryland.

Winter Range

Winters from southern New England to Florida, and from the southern Great Lakes region through Texas into much of the Mexican interior.

Habitat

Various wetlands, including freshwater and tidal marshes, bogs, meadows, and swamps.

Food

Seeds, fruits, and aquatic invertebrates.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds at water's edge, picking invertebrates from mud or surface of water.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A bulky open cup of dry grasses, sedges, plant stalks, and leaves, lined with fine grass, plant fibers, and occasionally hair. Placed in dense cattails, grass, or shrubs; some on ground.

Egg Description

Bluish green with spots and blotches.

Clutch Size

2-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse dark brown down.

Conservation Status

Populations appear to have held stable or increased slightly between the late 1960s and early 1990s. Long-term prospects will depend on wetland conservation.

Other Names

Bruant des marais (French)
Gorrión pantanero (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Mowbray, T. B. 1998. Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana). In The Birds of North America, No. 279 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and the American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.