Field Sparrow
Spizella pusilla
Small, slender, blank-faced sparrow. Can be either gray or buffy overall, but always note small pink bill, plain face, and thin white eyering. Inhabits overgrown fields and other brushy areas in eastern North America. Often joins flocks of sparrows in winter. Can visit feeders, but less frequently than Chipping or American Tree sparrows. Song is a series of bell-like notes, accelerating like a dropped ping-pong ball.
Identification
Adults have brown upperparts, a buffy breast, a white belly, two whitish wing bars and a dark-brown forked tail. They have a grey face, a rusty crown, a white eye ring and a pink bill. They have rusty markings behind the eye. There are grey and rufous colour variants of the species. Males and females have a similar appearance with males being slightly larger than the females.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Spizella pusilla
- Authority
- (Wilson, A, 1810)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Passerellidae
- Genus
- Spizella
Range and habitat
Their breeding habitat is brushy, shrubby fields across eastern North America. The nest is an open cup on the ground under a clump of grass or in a small thicket. They often breed more than once in each season, and each time they build a new nest, the nest is built higher off the ground as the season progresses and leaves grow in..Their eggs are laid in May or June; they are pale bluish white, speckled and blotched with yellowish brown and grayish purple.<p>These birds are permanent residents in the southern parts of their range. Northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico.
- Breeding range
- NA : se Canada to c, e USA
- Non-breeding range
- to ne Mexico
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Trumpeter Swan
Cygnus buccinator
Huge white bird with long neck and all-black bill. Immatures dusky gray-brown with pink on bill. Forages in shallow, vegetated wetlands reaching under the water for plants, and walks through corn stubble. Breeds in freshwater marshes and ponds. Winters on any open body of water where food is available. Extremely similar to Tundra Swan, but never shows yellow on bill. Also, note subtle features of face: facial skin is relatively broad where it meets eye, so the eye doesn't stand out, and border between white face and black bill is straight (curved on Tundra). From head-on, the border of the bill and forehead is usually pointed (straight or curved on Tundra). Often in pairs or family groups. Almost went extinct in early 20th century, but population has rebounded and been reintroduced to some areas.
Dark-backed Imperial-Pigeon
Ducula lacernulata
Large gray-brown pigeon with dark brown wings and back. Head color varies across range: a silver-gray head in western Java, a pinkish-buff head in eastern Java, and an intermediate pinkish face and gray crown elsewhere. Widespread, but generally only locally common, roaming extensively through foothill and montane forests. Generally perches quietly in the canopy, often in small flocks. Visits fruiting trees. Gives deep hooting coos: “whuup, whuup.”
Citreoline Trogon
Trogon citreolus
Handsome yellow-bellied trogon found only in west Mexico, where no other yellow-bellied trogons occur. Found in arid to semiarid woodlands, thorn forests, plantations, hedgerows, and other semiopen areas with taller trees, including gardens. Perches mainly at middle to upper levels. Sometimes found in small groups at fruiting trees. As well as the yellow belly, note the pale yellow eyes (duller on immatures) and mostly white underside to the tail, with no dark barring.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.