Chipping Sparrow
Spizella passerina
Aves › Passeriformes › Passerellidae › Spizella
Conservation status: least_concern
The chipping sparrow is a species of New World sparrow, a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It is widespread, fairly tame, and common across most of its North American range.
How To Identify
This small sparrow is easily recognized by its neat, clean gray plumage and striking reddish-brown cap extending from the forehead. It has streaky brown underparts but retains a generally sharp and tidy appearance compared to other sparrows.
Habitat
They typically inhabit open woodlands, grasslands, gardens, parks, and scrubby areas with scattered trees, preferring dry, semi-open environments from lowlands to moderate elevations.
Behaviour
Chipping Sparrows are ground foragers that hop along the earth searching for seeds and insects, and they often forage in small flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes joining mixed-species feeding groups.
Native Range
The chipping sparrow is widespread across most of its North American range.
Did You Know?
It used to fill a niche similar to house sparrows before their introduction to North America, and it remains associated with human habitations and is relatively unafraid of people where house sparrows are not present.
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