chipping sparrow

Chipping Sparrow
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Emberizidae Genus: Spizella Species: S. passerina
Binomial name
Spizella passerina (Bechstein, 1798)

The Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) is widespead, fairly tame, and generally common across much of its North American range. In eastern North America, Chipping Sparrows breed in woodlands, farmlands, and suburban and urban districts. In western North America, the Chipping Sparrow is a little "wilder," preferring conifer forests for breeding. The Chipping Sparrow is migratory, with almost all mid-latitude and high-latitude breeders withdrawing in winter to the southern United States and Mexico.

Identification

Adults in breeding ("alternate") plumage have a red cap, a white eyebrow ("supercilium"), and a black line through the eye ("trans-ocular"). Adults in nonbreeding ("basic") plumage are less prominently marked, with a brownish cap, a dusky eyebrow, and a dark eye-line. Throughout the year, adults are gray below and brown above.

Juvenile Chipping Sparrows are prominently streaked below. Like nonbreeding 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, on juveniles.

Molt in the Chipping Sparrow follows what is know as the Complex Alternate Strategy. Many bird species, including many sparrows and other passerines, follow the Complex Alternate Strategy.

Vocalizations

The flight call of the Chipping Sparrow is heard year-round. Its flight call is piercing and pure-tone, lasting about 50 milliseconds. It starts out around 9 kHz, then falls to 9 kHz, then rises again to 7 kHz. The flight call may be transliterated as 'seen?' Chipping Sparrows migrate by night, and their flight calls are a characteristic sound of the night sky in spring and fall in the United States. In the southern Rockies and eastern Great Plains, the Chipping Sparrow appears to be the most common nocturnal migrant, judged by the number of flight calls detected per hour. On typical nights in August in this region, Chipping Sparrows may be heard at a rate of 15 flight calls per hour. On better-than-average nights, Chipping Sparrows may be heard at a rate of 60 flight calls per hour, and on exceptional nights Chipping Sparrows give flight calls at a rate of more than 200 per hour.

The call note is an honest-to-goodness chip, whence the standard English name of the species.

The song is a trill that varies considerably among birds within any particular region. Two broad classes of variation in the song of the Chipping Sparrow are the fast trill and the slow song. Individual elements in the fast trill are run together about twice as fast as in the slow trill; the fast trill sounds like a buzz or like someone snoring, whereas the slow trill sounds like rapid finger-tapping. Individual elements in the trill are very similar to the 'chip' call note of the species. The trill of the Chipping Sparrow can be very similar to that of the Dark-eyed Junco, with which it frequently co-occurs on the breeding grounds. The Dark-eyed Junco's trill averages looser, more leisurely, and more musical. A cut with four songs of a single Chipping Sparrow is provided below. Some of the other songs on this cut include Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, and Common Grackle.

Geographic Variation

Chipping Sparrows are not all the same across their extensive North American range. There is minor geographic variation in appearance, and there is significant geographic variation in behavior. Ornithologists often divide the Chipping Sparrow into two major groups: the Eastern Chipping Sparrow and the Western Chipping Sparrow. However, this distinction in simplistic. The main problem is that plumage and behavioral variation within the "Western" Chipping Sparrow is extensive.

Behavior

Throughout the year, Chipping Sparrows forage on the ground, often in loose flocks. Their diet consists mainly of seeds, especially those fallen on the ground. Chipping Sparrows frequently forage from forbs and grasses, too. At any time of the year, especially, in spring, Chipping Sparrows may be seen in trees, even up in the canopy, where they forage on fresh buds and glean for arboreal insects.

Although they are wary, Chipping Sparrows often allow close approach. A quiet observer can often get to within 50-100 feet of one or more Chipping Sparrows feeding on the ground. When spooked, Chipping Sparrows fly a short distance to the nearest tree or fencerow.

Annual Cycle

For birders in the middle latitudes of North America, the Chipping Sparrow's year begins in early spring, with the first migrants returning from their wintering grounds in the southern United States and Mexico.

Conservation

Although this bird's original habitat was probably coniferous forest, it has adapted well to the changes brought about by increased human population in its range.

References

Monograph

• Middleton, A. L. 1998. Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), in: A. Poole and F. Gill, eds. The Birds of North America No. 334. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Thesis

• Liu W-C. Ph.D. (2001). Development, variation, and use of songs by chipping sparrows. University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States -- Massachusetts.

• Perez DE. M.A. (1982). Parental Foraging in Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina). Western Michigan University, United States -- Michigan.

• Tate DJR. Ph.D. (1973). Habitat usage by the Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) in northern lower Michigan. The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, United States -- Nebraska.

Articles

• Albrecht DJ & Oring LW. (1995). Song in chipping sparrows, Spizella passerina: Structure and function. Animal Behaviour. vol 50, p. 1233-1241.

• Anderson SH & Van Hook RIJ. (1973). Uptake and Biological Turnover of Cadmium-109 in Chipping Sparrows Spizella-Passerina. Environmental Physiology & Biochemistry. vol 3, no 5. p. 243-247.

• Braestrup FW. (1968). Evolution of Vertebrates Parus-Ater Parus-Cristatus Parus-Montanus Nemeritis-Canescens Phylloscopus-Sibilatrix Delichon-Urbica Spizella-Passerina Peromyscus-Maniculatus Turdus-Merula Turdus-Viscivorus Acrocephalus-Palustris. Zoologischer Anzeiger. vol 181, no 1/2. p. 1-22.

• Catherine PO & Joseph CO. (2001). Effects of Brown-headed Cowbirds on the nesting success of Chipping Sparrows in southwest Colorado. The Condor. vol 103, no 1. p. 127.

• Dawson WR, Carey C, Adkisson CS & Ohmart RD. (1979). Responses of Brewers Sparrows Spizella-Breweri and Chipping Sparrows Spizella-Passerina to Water Restriction. Physiological Zoology. vol 52, no 4. p. 529-541.

• Earley CG. (1991). BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, MOLOTHRUS-ATER, SEEN REMOVING A CHIPPING SPARROW, SPIZELLA-PASSERINA, EGG. Canadian Field-Naturalist. vol 105, no 2. p. 281-282.

• Fillmore ER & Titman RD. (1977). CHIPPING SPARROW HANGED. Canadian Field-Naturalist. vol 91, no 1. p. 69-69.

• Foster J & Tozer R. (2001). Chipping sparrow feeds young of Eastern Kingbird. Ontario Birds. vol 19, no 2. p. 79-83.

• Liu W-C & Kroodsma DE. (1999). Song development by chipping sparrows and field sparrows. Animal Behaviour. vol 57, p. 1275.

• Liu W-C & Kroodsma DE. (2007). Dawn and daytime singing behavior of chipping sparrows (Spizella passerina). Auk. vol 124, no 1. p. 44-52.

• Middleton ALA & Prescott DRC. (1989). POLYGYNY, EXTRA-PAIR COPULATIONS, AND NEST HELPERS IN THE CHIPPING SPARROW, SPIZELLA-PASSERINA. Canadian Field-Naturalist. vol 103, no 1. p. 61-64.

• Moldenha.Rr & Taylor PG. (1973). ENERGY-INTAKE BY HYDROPENIC CHIPPING SPARROWS (SPIZELLA-PASSERINA-PASSERINA) MAINTAINED ON DIFFERENT DIETS. Condor. vol 75, no 4. p. 439-445.

• Pulliam HR. (1980). Do Chipping Sparrows Spizella-Passerina-Arizonae Forage Optimally. Ardea. vol 68, no 1-4. p. 75-82.

• Reynolds JD & Knapton RW. (1984). Nest-Site Selection and Breeding Biology of the Chipping Sparrow Spizella-Passerina. Wilson Bulletin. vol 96, no 3. p. 488-493.

• Scott DM. (1988). HOUSE SPARROW AND CHIPPING SPARROW FEED THE SAME FLEDGLING BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD. Wilson Bulletin. vol 100, no 2. p. 323-324.

• Simmons GA & Sloan NF. (1974). Consumption of Jack-Pine Budworm Choristoneura-Pinus by the Eastern Chipping Sparrow Spizella-Passerina. Canadian Journal of Zoology. vol 52, no 7. p. 817-821.

• Sloan NF & Simmons GA. (1973). Foraging Behavior of the Chipping Sparrow in Response to High Populations of Jack Pine Budworm. American Midland Naturalist. vol 90, no 1. p. 210-215.

• Stewart PA. (1968). Bird Migration through an Abandoned Farmstead Richmondena-Cardinalis Behavior Dendroica-Palmarum Guiraca-Caerulea Spizella-Passerina. Chat. vol 32, no 4.

• Swanson HM, Kinney B & Cruz A. (2004). Breeding biology of the Chipping Sparrow in ponderosa pine forests of the Colorado Front Range. Wilson Bulletin. vol 116, no 3. p. 246-251.

• Wan-Chun L. (2004). The effect of neighbours and females on dawn and daytime singing behaviours by male chipping sparrows. Animal Behaviour. vol 68, p. 39.

• Wan-Chun L & Donald EK. (2006). SONG LEARNING BY CHIPPING SPARROWS: WHEN, WHERE, AND FROM WHOM. The Condor. vol 108, no 3. p. 509.

• Zink RM & Dittmann DL. (1993). Population structure and gene flow in the chipping sparrow and a hypothesis for evolution in the genus Spizella. The Wilson Bulletin. vol 105, no 3. p. 399-413.

External links

• Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Chipping Sparrow Species Account - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
• Chipping Sparrow Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
• BirdLife International (2004). Spizella passerina. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 05 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.

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