Song Sparrow

One of Kitsap’s most common songbirds is the Song Sparrow. Named for its trademark melodic song, this quintessential “little brown bird” is commonly seen and heard virtually anywhere in the Puget Sound region. Here are some fascinating facts about the Song Sparrow:

• One of the most common and familiar sparrows of North America.

• Found in a variety of habitats, including backyards and parks, forest edges and grasslands, and shorelines and wetlands.

• Year-round along the West Coast and across the American West and Northeast. Migratory populations that breed in southern Canada winter in the plains states and the South.

• There are at least 24 recognized subspecies, as populations vary in color, sound, and size across its range.

• Pacific Northwest residents are darker with more prominent streaking than East Coast residents.

• Residents of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska are very dark, ⅓ longer and weigh twice as much as their counterparts on the East Coast.

• Forages on the ground and in small trees and shrubs for insects and other invertebrates, berries and seeds. Readily visits backyard feeders.

• Fluttery flights are short and low to the ground.

• In springtime, males sing a complicated song on exposed perches. Females tend to prefer males whose song most closely matches what they learned from their adult tutors.

• Pair selects a nest site together and chooses a spot that is near or at ground level. A grassy cup nest is constructed in four days and is concealed in tall grass or low shrubs.

• Pairs typically raise at least two broods per breeding season and may raise up to seven broods in one season.

• Clutch size is one to six eggs.