from the February 2, 2009 Newsletter, issued from near
Natchez, Mississippi:
CHIPPING SPARROWS IN NONBREEDING PLUMAGE When
Karen cleans her birdcages she tosses what's on the cage floors to a certain spot in her
yard. Many seeds are in the mess, so wild birds come to forage there. That's what the
above Cardinal was doing when I photographed him, and that what the Chipping Sparrows,
SPIZELLA PASSERINA, are doing in the picture above.
Chipping Sparrows occur here year round, though not necessarily the same individuals. The
species is migratory, breeding in most of Canada and the US, except for parts of the US
Deep South, and wintering from the southern US south through Mexico to Nicaragua.
Breeding adults are recognized by their bright, rusty- red or rufous crowns, white
eyebrow, and black eye stripe. These features are much less sharply defined in the
nonbreeding birds in the picture. The crown of the bird on the left even has a gray stripe
down its middle, which is absent in breeding adults.
From past experience I know it won't be long until the Chipping Sparrow's dry, monotonal
trill comes wafting through the Loblolly Pines on sunny afternoons. I don't hear them yet,
but I'm waiting for it hard.
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