Song Sparrow

(Melospiza melodia)

eBird gives this description for the Song Sparrow:  One of the most common and widespread sparrows in North America. Fairly large with a long, rounded tail. Overall coarsely patterned with gray and brown, usually with more reddish-brown wings and tail. Look especially for thick brown streaks on the underparts and a broad dark mustache stripe. Significant variation in plumage geographically: relatively pale and rusty in the southwestern U.S.; blacker streaking in California; overall dusky in the Pacific Northwest. Larger, longer-tailed and usually more rusty than Savannah Sparrow. Found in a variety of scrubby habitats both near and far from human development, especially edges of fields, often near water. Listen for husky “chimp” calls and melodic song with chips and trills.  All About Birds gives this basic description for the Song Sparrow:  A rich, russet-and-gray bird with bold streaks down its white chest, the Song Sparrow is one of the most familiar North American sparrows. Don’t let the bewildering variety of regional differences this bird shows across North America deter you: it’s one of the first species you should suspect if you see a streaky sparrow in an open, shrubby, or wet area. If it perches on a low shrub, leans back, and sings a stuttering, clattering song, so much the better.

I saw my first Song Sparrow at the Tucson Audubon Society’s Paton Center for Hummingbirds on the morning of Wednesday, August 3, 2022, in Patagonia, Arizona.  I was with a small group that was part of the 2022 Southwest Wings Festival, led by guide Richard Fray.  To see my blog post that includes my visit to the Paton Center, look here.  The Song Sparrow I watched had come to one of the feeders for the suet.  

SONG SPARROW AT THE PATON CENTER IN PATAGONIA, ARIZONA; AUGUST 3, 2022.
A LITTLE DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE SONG SPARROW AT THE PATON CENTER.


“Cool Facts” About The Song Sparrow From All About Birds:

  • The Song Sparrow is found throughout most of North America, but the birds of different areas can look surprisingly different. Song Sparrows of the Desert Southwest are pale, while those in the Pacific Northwest are dark and heavily streaked. Song Sparrows of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain are even darker, and they’re huge: one-third longer than the eastern birds, and weighing twice as much.
  • The range of the Song Sparrow is continuous from the Aleutians to the eastern United States. There’s also an isolated population that lives on the plateau of central Mexico, about 900 miles from the next closest population. These Song Sparrows have white throats and chests with black streaks.
  • Song Sparrows seem to have a clear idea of what makes a good nest. Field researchers working for many years on the same parcels of land have noticed that some choice spots – the base of a rose bush, or a particular hollow under a hummock of grass, for example – get used over and over again, even when entirely new birds take over the territory.
  • Despite the large differences in size and coloration across the Song Sparrow’s range, genetic divergence is low. High rates of immigration and emigration may keep populations genetically similar, while local selective conditions maintain the physical differences.
  • Like many other songbirds, the male Song Sparrow uses its song to attract mates as well as defend its territory. Laboratory studies have shown that the female Song Sparrow is attracted not just to the song itself, but to how well it reflects the ability of the male to learn. Males that used more learned components in their songs and that better matched their song tutors (the adult bird they learned their songs from) were preferred.
  • Some scientists think that Song Sparrows of wet, coastal areas have darker plumage as a defense against feather mites and other decay agents that thrive in humid climates. The darker plumage contains more of a pigment called melanin, which makes feathers tougher and harder to degrade than lighter, unpigmented feathers.
  • The Song Sparrow, like most other North American breeding birds, uses increasing day length as a cue for when to come into breeding condition. But, other cues can be important too, such as local temperature and food abundance. A study found that male Song Sparrows from the coast of Washington state came into breeding condition two months earlier than Song Sparrows in the nearby mountains, where the daylight changes were the same, but temperatures were cooler and trees budded out two months later.
  • Song Sparrows often lay two or more clutches of eggs per breeding season. In exceptional circumstances, such as when resources are abundant or predation causes the loss of several clutches in a row, Song Sparrows have laid as many as seven clutches in a single breeding season, and have successfully reared up to four clutches.
  • The oldest known Song Sparrow was at least 11 years, 4 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Colorado.