Bird Guide

Chipping Sparrow vs Field Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

Chipping Sparrow

Spizella passerina

Tiny12 gForest

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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Jonathon Jongsma · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Liam Steele · CC BY 4.0
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)

Field Sparrow

Spizella pusilla

Tiny13 gGrassland

Adults have brown upperparts, a buffy breast, a white belly, two whitish wing bars and a dark-brown forked tail. They have a grey face, a rusty crown, a white eye ring and a pink bill. They have rusty markings behind the eye. There are grey and rufous colour variants of the species. Males and females have a similar appearance with males being slightly larger than the females.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Jonathon Jongsma · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Matt Pelikan · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Chipping Sparrow and Field Sparrow.