English name : Song Sparrow
French name : Bruant chanteur
Latin name : Melospiza melodia
Breadth : 21 cm
Length : 16 cm
Weight : 20 g
The Song sparrow has a black spot at the centre of it’s chest along with it’s strongly lined flanks makes this bird very distinctive. Top and sides of it’s head are lined grey and russet color. Back, wings and tail lined with different tints of brown. The sparrow has a round tail. Often found in bushes, alone or with other sparrows.
Bird Feeder for the Song Sparrow :
HABITAT
In fields, pastures, close to dwellings in rural environments, roadsides, and forests.
NESTING
The Song Sparrow nests on the ground in grass tufts, shrubs, or in the under branches of shrubs generally between .6 to .9 m from the ground. The female constructs the nest in five (5) to ten (10) days. It is constructed of grass, dead leaves, bark fibers and is decorated with fine grass, rootlets and hair.
Exterior diameter : 12.7 x 22.9 cm Height : 11.4 cm
Interior diameter : 6.4 cm Depth : 3.8 cm
Eggs, three (3) to five (5), appr. : 19 x 15 mm, oval to short oval. The shell is smooth and slightly glossy, greenish white and heavily marked with specks and splashes of brownish red, purples, and sometimes a bit of gray. On occasion, the marks cover the entire egg and obscure the base color making the egg appear to be pale brown. For this species, the eggs vary largely in form and size. Incubation is assured by the female in May and lasts between 12 and 13 days. The young are born altricial. If the female loses her eggs during the incubation period, she can lay others. For the first five (5) or six (6) days, the female stays with the nest to protect the young. The eyes open after three (3) or four (4) days , they leave the nest ten (10) days after hatching; at 17 days they fly and become independent at about 18 to 20 days or more on occasion. The male nourishes the young outside of the nest while the female prepares for a second brood. There are two (2) broods per year.
Royal Alberta Museum : Eggs of Alberta
Food
A diverse variety of seeds, insects particularly at birth.
Your charter of the preferred food of your birds
MIGRATION
Southern United States
Cornell Ornithology Lab
Websites for additional information on the Song Sparrow :
United States : Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Museum of Civilization : Audubon, Paint, Nature and Adventure
Definition: altricial
Consult the glossary of the Canadian Wildlife and Flora Service