Song Sparrow
Melospiza melodia

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Melospiza

Audio for Species

Call
Song

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Song Sparrow Pictures

Description

Length: 4.7-6.7 in (12-17 cm) Weight: 0.4-1.9 oz (12-53 g) Wingspan: 7.1-9.4 in (18-24 cm)

The Song Sparrow has a brown crown, with a grayish face and supercilium. A brown streak that extends behind eye, and a thick malar streak. The back is brown with darker streaks. Brown wings with some rust. The underparts are white with heavy dark streaks and central breast spot. They have a long, brown, rounded tail and a conical bill.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Song Sparrows are found in a tremendous assortment of open habitats, from marshes and arctic grasslands to desert scrubland; rain forests to urban areas.

Both female and male search for nest sites, with twitching wings and giving soft notes to each other; female tries out possible sites by molding nests, with the male influencing the choice. The female will build the nest out of grass and weeds stems, leaves, and strips of plant bark for outer material. Then a lining of fine grass, rootlets, and occasionally hair .The nests are most common low in grasses and shrubs, mostly on ground but up to 13 ft elevation in sedge, catci, and sometimes trees. The clutch size is 1 to6 eggs, that are blue, cyan, or gray-green spotted with brown, mahogany-red, or lavender.

Their diet is mainly seeds and fruits, then a wide varitey of invertebrates.