In late April and early May, I enjoyed seeing a variety of sparrows, most of which were arriving from their winter quarters and fueling up for the next jump in their northward migration. Several kinds were in my yard, and on a stroll out to Boy Scout Beach we saw not only the resident Oregon juncos, but also five species of migrant sparrows flocking at the edges of the forest. So I though perhaps readers would enjoy a brief synopsis about them.
• White-crowned sparrow: This one is easily identified by the snazzy black and white stripes on the crown, and a plain chest. It breeds all across North America and is very well studied. There are several subspecies, with slight differences to the human eye and quite a lot of variation in the song. There are many studies of song in this species, and there are regional dialects.
It winters in the southern U.S. and lowland Pacific Northwest, very occasionally in coastal Alaska. On migration, the stopovers tend to be short, just a few days, and males tend to head north slightly earlier than females. Once they arrive on the nesting grounds, they choose habitat consisting of patches of bare ground, grass and shrubs. Although they commonly nest in shrubs elsewhere, in Alaska they usually nest on the ground under concealing vegetation. The nest is typically made of fine twigs, lined with a cup of grass.
• Golden-crowned sparrow: Heftier than the white-crowns, its crown has a wide black strip on both sides of a yellow center, and the chest is plain. It is a West Coast species, breeding in British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska and wintering from southern B.C. to California. There are few detailed studies of this species. Some of the migrants we see here in early spring go on to the Interior, nesting at the forest/tundra edge and on shrubby tundra near treeline in the mountains. But some stay here to breed, nesting in subalpine habitats.
Nests are built of twigs, bark and coarse grasses, with a lining of fine grasses, feathers and animal fur. They are usually placed on the ground, but occasionally a female builds her nest low down in a conifer shrub. The male’s song is distinctive, consisting of three rather plaintive descending notes, often rendered in English as ‘Oh dear me’. I hear this species every summer up on Gold Ridge.
• Fox sparrow: The biggest of the species mentioned here, it is dark brown, with heavy brown streaks on the front. Widespread across North America in the breeding season, there are several subspecies that vary quite a bit in body size and coloration (for example, the eastern form is quite reddish and foxy, but ours are dark), and the songs differ somewhat from region to region. They winter in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico; our subspecies winters in California.
They nest on the ground or in low bushes and small trees. The nest is well concealed, built of twigs, moss, bark and lichens and lined with more lichens, fine grass, feathers and animal hair. A typical song can be identified by a sliding note in the midst of some warbling, but there is some variation. They nest around Juneau in shrubby areas such as Sheep Creek Valley.
• Lincoln’s sparrow: It’s a small sparrow with a gray face; the upper chest is buffy with fine vertical lines. It breeds across northern North America and winters in northern Mexico, far-southern U.S. and along the Pacific coast. It has a complex, burbling song that is not easy to describe in words. For breeding, they favor shrubby habitats, often near bogs and fens. Lincoln’s sparrows nest on the ground under low shrubs. At least in some areas, nests often have a cover of drooping sedges that create a little tunnel through which the parents approach the nest. Around Juneau, we found this species nesting in Sheep Creek Valley and the Dredge Lake area, for example.
• Savannah sparrow: This is another small sparrow, usually pale brown, with some chest and flank streaks and a yellowish eyebrow stripe. It breeds across much of North America and winters in southern U.S., Mexico, and northern Central America. It chooses to nest in grassy meadows, sedge bogs and tundra. The grassy nests are placed on the ground, usually well hidden under drooping grasses and herbs. The song is buzzy and high-pitched, often starting with two or three notes, followed by some trills.
Around here, we have found them on territory in places such as Cowee Meadows.
• Dark-eyed junco: Although it does not bear the name of sparrow, it is similar in many respects, and some of them are migratory, so I am including it here. In winter, we see two subspecies. One is the slate-colored junco, all gray and white, which nests in the Interior (and all across northern North America) and visits us in winter. The other subspecies is the Oregon junco, also mostly gray and white, but with a chestnut-brown back and buffy flanks; this one is our familiar breeding junco that is with us year-round. Both forms have a pinkish bill and distinctive white outer tail feathers that make it easy to identify (at least as it flies away).
Juncos favor shrubby habitats. They are typically ground-nesters, making a tidy grass cup tucked under an overhanging tussock or small shrub. But they are also known to nest in planters on the decks of our houses. The song is usually a jingly trill based on one pitch, but some juncos around here seem to divide the song into two parts, based on two different pitches, a variation I have not heard elsewhere.
In all of these species, it is typically the male that sings and does most of the territorial defense, and the female does the nest-building and incubation of the eggs. Both parents tend the chicks. All of them eat lots of seeds, especially in winter, using that strong, conical bill that is well made for cracking seeds. In summer, they also eat insects and feed insects to the chicks.
• Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology.
