Critters of the Week

Where Spotted: Bryan Park
Common Name: Chipping Sparrow
Scientific Name: Spizella passerina
Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.6 oz (11-16 g)
Wingspan: 8.3 in (21 cm)

Quick Facts Courtesy of Cornell Labs

• The early naturalists had a gift for description you just don’t see anymore. In 1929, Edward Forbush called the Chipping Sparrow “the little brown-capped pensioner of the dooryard and lawn, that comes about farmhouse doors to glean crumbs shaken from the tablecloth by thrifty housewives.”
• In much of the West, Chipping Sparrows disperse shortly after breeding to move to areas with better food resources. It’s not unusual to see Chipping Sparrows on alpine tundra or along roadsides in open grasslands. This results in the common misperception that they bred in those areas, when really they simply moved there to molt.
• Chipping Sparrows typically build their nests low in a shrub or tree, but every once in a while they get creative. People have found their nests among hanging strands of chili peppers, on an old-fashioned mower inside a tool shed, and on a hanging basket filled with moss.
• The nest of the Chipping Sparrow is of such flimsy construction that light can be seen through it. It probably provides little insulation for the eggs and young.
• The oldest recorded Chipping Sparrow was at least 10 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Ontario in 1998. It had been banded in the same province in 1987.

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Gender: Spayed Female
Color: Brown / White
ID: 49034267

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