Chipping Sparrow
Spizella passerina · New World Sparrows
Banding codeCHSP
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 5.5 in long.
2Color pattern
- Bright rusty cap
- Black line through the eye under a white eyebrow
- Clean gray breast
3Habitat & season
Open woods, parks, lawns with scattered trees
In northern Utah: summer.
Seen most often in May and July.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
A dry, rapid trill on one pitch, like a sewing machine.
“a dry, mechanical trill”
iNat 83421258 by Robbie Hannawacker · Manti-La Sal National Forest, Monticello, UT, US · CC0
Know it
- Its song is a dry trill often mistaken for an insect.
- Lines its nest with animal hair, including horsehair.
- Its rusty cap fades to brown in winter.
- A common summer sparrow of Utah's parks and open woodlands.
Often confused with
House Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow- Brewer's Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The chipping sparrow is a species of New World sparrow, a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It is widespread, fairly tame, and common across most of its North American range.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0