Bird of the Month: Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow. Photo by Jeff Bryant.
By Roger Digges, CCAS Vice-President
For some weeks now we have gradually exchanged the frozen ground, bare trees and shrubs, and bitter cold of winter for the warm breezes, green shoots, and early flowers of a budding spring. Bird lovers may also have noticed the emergence of a dawn chorus and the appearance of bird species we haven’t seen for months. As a frequent Meadowbrook Park walker, I’ve welcomed the growing wall of sound from singing Red-winged Blackbirds in the southern part of Spomer Prairie, the graceful swoops of Tree Swallows, and, best of all, the sounds and sights of the sky dancing American Woodcock.
But I don’t even have to leave my desk chair to see one of my favorite events of the spring. Ever since October, Dark-eyed Juncos (an unusually plumaged sparrow, gray above, white below) have been using our millet-filled ground feeder just feet beyond our back stoop. However, it wasn’t until March that I heard them sing a trilling spring song that says to females “Hey, look at me,” and to males “Stay off of my lawn.”
During April while junco numbers decrease as they migrate north, I begin hearing the spring song
of another sparrow which sometimes can sound so similar I’m not sure which one I hear. But once I see the first of these species at my patio ground feeder, I immediately recognize them and their song. Chipping Sparrows are petite and seem almost delicate. When dressed in their breeding plumage, both males and females show a gray underside, the usual sparrow black and brown striped wings and back, and a light-colored face with a black line through the eye, and a distinctive rusty cap.
It is easy to attract these sparrows to your yard, particularly if you have shrubs and tall trees. You can draw them to hanging platform or hopper feeders, ground platform feeders, or just scatter seed on the ground. Chipping Sparrows are especially fond of black oil sunflower seeds and white proso millet but will also eat cracked corn, nyjer, or milo. Do not feed bread to sparrows or any bird. It’s hard for them to digest and fills them up without giving them the nutrition they need.
If you don’t have a yard, you can still enjoy seeing Chipping Sparrows in parks or preserves or anywhere with grass and trees. While they prefer to feed on the ground, when they sense a predator (i.e. you or me from their perspective) they’ll fly up into shrubs or small trees. If you stop and stand quietly they’ll likely soon fly back down. In a wooded area you may find them by listening for the male Chipping Sparrow’s long, loud trill. He’ll probably be in the higher branches of a nearby tree.
While Chipping Sparrows have been reported by area birders every month of the year, most of these birds migrate to southern Florida, Texas, or Cuba in November and begin returning to Champaign County in late March, their numbers peaking in April.
The female (whose plumage is the same as the male) will soon begin building her nest in a shrub or low tree about 3–10 feet off the ground. Curiously this nest is so lightly built that you can actually see through it. (Although it would be good to wait until the young are gone.) The male will guard her and bring her food, then join her for the next two weeks in taking turns incubating the 2–7 eggs that she lays, and later feeding their young. Juvenile Chipping Sparrows leave the nest 9–12 days after they hatch.
How are Chipping Sparrows doing? Like most of our birds, their numbers have declined, in this sparrow’s case by 28% between 1966 and 2019 according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. There are still an estimated 240 million Chipping Sparrows, their numbers helped by the creation of new parkland and suburban landscaping. How can you help them? Plant native shrubs or small trees, leaving open areas for them to feed. And support natural areas in our local parks and preserves.