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Chipping Sparrow

Spizella passerina

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernSeedsForestCup nestTiny · 12 g
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 1
Photo: Linda Jo Conn · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 2
Photo: Linda Jo Conn · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 3
Photo: Lauren McLaurin · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 4
Photo: Lauren McLaurin · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 5
Photo: Laura Mae · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 6
Photo: ian bullock · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 7
Photo: lwolfartist · CC BY 2.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 8
Photo: Liam Steele · CC BY 4.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 9
Photo: lwolfartist · CC BY 2.0
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), photo 10
Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0

What the Chipping Sparrow sounds like

Sonogram of the Chipping Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Song · Afton State Park, Washington County, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Chipping Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Call · Prairie Trail, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Chipping Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Call · Oak Draw Rd, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Throughout the year, adults are gray below and an orangish-rust color above. Adults in alternate (breeding) plumage have a reddish cap, a nearly white supercilium, and a black trans-ocular line (running through the eye). Adults in basic (nonbreeding) plumage are less prominently marked, with a brownish cap, a dusky eyebrow, and a dark eye-line. Juvenile chipping sparrows are prominently streaked below. Like non-breeding adults, they show a dark eye-line, extending both in front of and behind the eye. The brownish cap and dusky eyebrow are variable but generally obscure in juveniles.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Chipping Sparrow

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 7 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Chipping Sparrow

Regular range

The map shades 13 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Canada Mexico Belize Honduras Nicaragua Guatemala Bermuda Costa Rica El Salvador St. Pierre & Miquelon Cuba Bahamas

About the Chipping Sparrow

The chipping sparrow is a species of New World sparrow, a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It is widespread, fairly tame, and common across most of its North American range.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) Field SparrowSpizella pusillaAdults have brown upperparts, a buffy breast, a white belly, two whitish wing bars and a dark-brown forked tail. Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) Clay-colored SparrowSpizella pallidaThe clay-colored sparrow or clay-coloured sparrow is a small New World sparrow of North America. Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri) Brewer's SparrowSpizella breweriBrewer's sparrow is a small, slim species of American sparrow in the family Passerellidae.

Side by side: Chipping Sparrow vs Field Sparrow

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