Field Sparrow

Welcome to this week’s Wildlife of the Week!

Our species this week is the Field Sparrow!

Spizella pusilla

This week’s Wildlife of the Week is the Field Sparrow, an often overlooked bird. These blandly marked sparrows are quiet and unobtrusive and can be easily missed in the field. They have an unmarked breast, rusty cap, pink bill and a faint whitish eye-ring. Their most distinguishing characteristic is the intricate and distinctive song of breeding males. During breeding season you can hear them sing a lengthy song with a gradually increasing tempo.

As their name implies, they can be found congregating in fields. They prefer overgrown fields, woodland edges and hedgerows. They are not often found in open fields with no shrubby cover. During breeding season they are solitary birds but the outside breeding season they will congregate in small flocks where they feed on seeds and insects near the ground. They will flush into nearby scrubby edges if alarmed.

Field sparrows are fairly common birds and are found throughout much of the eastern United States. They can be spotted on the refuge year-round. Look for them in scrubby fields in White Springs, Buckeye Impoundment, along Truck Trail Road and Rockhouse Road.

(Photos by Tom Ress)