Chipping Sparrow

Well sticking with the format, the chipping sparrow came out on top this week. Remember to place your vote in the side bar poll for the bird you would like to see covered next. Even if your bird does not have enough votes for this week, I do count the votes for a bird the following week. The Indigo bunting and rose-breasted grosbeak each have one vote this week being applied from people who voted for them last week.

Before starting this weeks bird I want to update you on the birds of interest in my back yard this past week. There were two events that were pretty cool. I thought my black-capped chickadee's left the nesting box for another nesting site. Well I quit paying attention to the box and noticed increased activity again a couple of weeks back. This week I noticed 2 chickadee's going in and out of the box and I noticed one taking small worms back each time. I assumed it was the male feeding the female as she sat on eggs. I waited until yesterday and decided to open the box and check the condition off the eggs. Much to my surprise there was 4 little chickadee's in the nest with full feathers. Two of them flew out really fast. I closed the box and chased them down. Both were returned to the nest and mom was right back in the box taking head count and making sure all was well. I watched her and dad feeding them all day today and I always see a little head looking out the box waiting for food. If I had to guess I think they'll be out of the box and on their own sometime this week. It was really cool to hold the 2 babies. They have the full colors but are about a third of the size as a full chickadee.

I also had a magnolia warbler visit the yard yesterday. I was in the back yard washing and refilling hummingbird feeders when I noticed it in a branch above my head. The color on him was spectacular and he stayed around for about 10 minutes bouncing between the tree and bushes. I would like to see what really visits the yard while I'm not home. I work a mid-day shift so I really do not get a chance to see many birds except on the weekends. Oh well I'm fortunate to get allot of birds so I always stand a chance of seeing something different. But now to the chippy.

The chipping sparrow is a common garden or yard bird that can often be seen feeding on dropped seeds beneath feeders. Its diet consist of insects and seeds and I have found that white millet in a ground feeder really draws them in. As a matter of fact the chipping sparrow is one of my favorite birds during the summer and a main reason I keep a ground feeder filled with the white millet. If you do invest in a ground feeder I recommend getting one that is covered if you live in a place where rain and snow is common, if not you'll be throwing away seed after every rain and also the seeds start sprouting.

As you can see from the picture they are a small (5") gray brown sparrow with a clear gray breast, rusty crown and white eyebrows. They have a black eye line and thin gray to black bill. The wings have two faint wing bars. The female is the same as the male and the juvenile is similar to the adult except it has a streaked breast and lacks the rusty crown. The name comes from the males slow "chip" call. Often you'll hear people just refer to them as a chippy.

They use a cup style nest that the female builds and is usually placed in low dense shrubs and is almost always lined with animal hair. They will usually produce 2 broods per year. They lay between 3-5 eggs that are blue green with brown markings. The incubation period is 11-14 days and the female incubates. Once hatched the fledgling stage last 10-12 days and both parents feed the young.

They do migrate for winter and their migration is complete to southern states, Mexico and Central America. Also they migrate at night in flocks of 20-30 birds. You can often see them gathering in large family groups to feed in preparation for migrating.

To sum them up they are a wonderful little bird that is really one of the better looking sparrows. They are easy to attract and really need no special feeders to attract them. If you feed birds in your yard just look on the ground below feeders and your likely to see one. They can be very unafraid of humans allowing you to approach closely before they fly away. The next time your watching birds in your yard keep an eye on the ground for these wonderful little birds.