Field Sparrow Gallery

Spizella pusilla

eBird gives this description of the Field Sparrow:  Small sparrow can be either gray or buffy overall, but always note small pink bill, plain face, and thin white eyering. Inhabits overgrown fields and other brushy areas. Song is a series of bell-like notes, accelerating like a dropped ping-pong ball. Often joins flocks of sparrows in winter. Can visit feeders, but less frequently than Chipping or American Tree Sparrows.  All About Birds gives us this additional descriptive information about the Field Sparrow:  The clear, “bouncing-ball” trill of the Field Sparrow is a familiar summer sound in brushy fields and roadsides of the East and Midwest. The singer is a small, warm-toned sparrow with a rusty cap, neat white eyering, and pink bill. Though still common, Field Sparrows have declined sharply in the last half-century, partly because of the expansion of suburbs, where Field Sparrows will not nest. Populations in the prairies have remained strong thanks in part to measures like the Conservation Reserve Program.

I watched my first Field Sparrows at the water feature blind at Kickapoo Cavern State Park on the morning of August 30, 2020.  There were several of them taking water and hanging around in the nearby rocks and bushes.  

Field Sparrow at Kickapoo Caverns State Park, August 30, 2020.
This photo shows the small pink bill and white eyering, both identifying traits of the Field Sparrow. Kickapoo Caverns, 8-30-2020.
This photo shows how small the Field Sparrow is compared to a Northern Cardinal. Kickapoo Cavern S. P., 8-30-2020.
At times, I observed numerous Field Sparrows taking water. Kickapoo Cavern S. P., August 30, 2020.


“Cool Facts” about the Field Sparrow from All About Birds…

  • If a male Field Sparrow survives the winter, it usually returns to breed in the same territory each year. The female is less likely to return to the same territory, and young sparrows only rarely return the next year to where they were born.
  • The male Field Sparrow starts singing as soon as he gets back in the spring. He sings vigorously until he finds a mate, but after that he sings only occasionally.
  • Female Field Sparrows arriving on the breeding grounds may experience a rude welcome from males seeking a mate. An unmated male will often fly at and strike a female on his territory, sometimes driving her to the ground. Such an approach seems to seal the deal; by the following day the male is following his mate closely as she searches for a nest site.
  • Field Sparrows often breed more than once a season. They build a new nest each time, building them higher and higher off the ground as the season progresses. Early spring nests are often on the ground, where they’re less visible. As leaves and groundcover grow the birds build their nests in bushes and trees, where they’re safer from snakes and other predators.