Tricky Bird IDs: American Tree Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow
The winter plumages of Chipping Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows look very similar. The
ranges of these species typically overlap only during migration, but Chipping Sparrows seem to be increasingly found north of their traditional winter range (see maps from FeederWatch data below). The usually reliable distinguishing mark--a breast spot on the tree sparrow where there is none on the Chipping Sparrow--can be deceptively unreliable.
American Tree Sparrow |
Chipping Sparrow |
| This sparrow (6.25" long, 16 cm) looks similar in summer and winter. It has a rusty cap and a rusty eye line, a bicolored bill, and a breast spot that is sometimes hidden. |
In summer this slightly smaller sparrow (5.5" long, 14 cm) has a chestnut cap, a distinct white eyebrow and black eyeline, and a dark bill. However, in winter the striping is much duller, the chestnut cap is typically obscured, and the bill may look pink. |
Photo by Cheryl Johnson, Campton, NH
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| -crown cinnamon rust year-round with faint gray streak down middle in winter
-rusty brown eyeline
-bi-colored bill, dark upper mandible, yellow lower mandible
-grayish breast with central, isolated, breast spot (sometimes hidden)
-rusty patch on shoulder
-two white wing bars |
-crown in winter more tan/brown than rufous with some streaking
-black or dark brown eyeline
-pinkish bill in winter
-grayish breast with no breast spot
-plain gray shoulder
-two buffy wing bars |
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These maps show the FeederWatch sites where these sparrows have been reported in winter. |
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These photos of a Chipping Sparrow (left) and an American Tree Sparrow show the rusty patch on the shoulder of the tree sparrow. They also show how similar the head streaking can look in winter. Note that the breast spot on the tree sparrow is not visible from this angle. |
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Additional
information
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird-of-the-Week and All About Birds web sites contains detailed species accounts and cool facts, as well as photographs and paintings from a variety of sources.
 Bird-of-the-Week: Chipping Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow,
All About Birds: Chipping Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow
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Acknowledgements:
Resources used to
compile this web page: Kenn Kaufman's Birds of North America (published by Houghton Mifflin), The Sibley Guide to Birds
(published by Alfred A. Knopf), and Field Guide to the Birds of North America
(published by National Geographic).
All photos by Mindy LaBranche unless otherwise indicated.
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