Bird Food Preferences

White proso millet

Bird Feeder Preferences

Tube, hopper, and platform

Plants to Attract

Woody Plants: Cherry; Non-woody Plants: Chickweed, clovers, crabgrass, euphorbias, knotweed, lamb’s quarter, pigweed, poverty weed, purslane, ragweed, wood sorrel, and yellow foxtail

Description

During the summer, Chipping Sparrows are found throughout the United States and Canada.  Since Chipping Sparrows are found across a large area their habitat varies greatly.  They prefer open woodlands and coniferous forests and they can be seen in parks and backyards.

Chipping Sparrows are on average five inches in length and weigh between 0.4 and 0.6 ounces.  Chipping Sparrows are small sparrows with brown-streaked backs and gray underparts.  During the breeding season, Chipping Sparrows have reddish-orange crowns with white eyebrows and black eye lines.  In the winter, Chipping Sparrows are duller overall and have dark brown crowns with cream colored eyebrows.

The male guards the female while she builds the nest, which is built in a shrub that is three to ten feet off the ground.  She composes the nest of dried grasses and lines it with animal hair and plant fibers.  The female can be very picky about nest placement and may begin a nest in one spot and then decide to build the nest in another spot.

Similar Species

American Tree Sparrow and Field Sparrow