The song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is a year-round resident, most common today in central and eastern Kentucky, absent or in low numbers west of the Green River drainage.
In the Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas, author Brainard Palmer-Ball Jr. wrote that “Audubon did not observe (the species) in the parts of the state he frequented during the early 1800s.” Towards the end of the century it was found “only in north central and northeastern Kentucky.”
The song sparrow is a member of family Passerellidae, which includes 138 species divided into 30 genera.
Ornithologist Alexander Wilson first described the song sparrow in the scientific literature in 1810.
Size and Coloration
Adult song sparrows are highly variable in size, with slight coloration differences, as there are numerous subspecies. Birds in the northern range are typically darker, and birds that live in the western range are lighter.
Generally, the song sparrows we have here in Kentucky are 4 to 6 inches tall, with a wingspan of about 7 to 8 inches, and weigh about 1 ounce or slightly more.
Coloration is brown, with dark streaks on the back, white underneath with dark streaking and a dark brown spot in the middle of the breast. Its crest is brown, as is the long rounded tail. The face is gray with a brown streak around and behind each eye.
Songs
This sparrow derives its name from its colorful repertoire of crisp, clear, and precise songs.
Singing typically consists of three short notes followed by a varied trill, including “chimp, seep and zeee” calls.
A 2022 study at Duke University found that male song sparrows memorize a 30-minute long playlist of varied songs. The findings suggest that male song sparrows deliberately shuffle and repeat their songs possibly to keep a female’s attention during courtship.
Habitat
The song sparrow lives in a wide variety of habitats, from small woodland openings in forested areas, to brushy, overgrown fields, and remnant prairies. They are often found in great numbers in low, moist areas along streams, but they also live in altered habitats — suburban and rural yards, overgrown fencerows along farm fields and rural backroads, and in reclaimed surface mines.
Range and Distribution
The song sparrow’s year-round geographic range includes parts of 10 states west of the Mississippi River, and the Ohio Valley into New England.
Its northern breeding population includes states as far west and north as Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and all throughout the provinces of Canada, east to west, and north into coastal Alaska.
Birds from the northern populations migrate south to states in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico in winter.
Food Habits
Song sparrows eat insects during the summer, including beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and spiders.
In winter they feed heavily on seeds, mainly those of grasses and weeds.
Courtship and Nesting
In Kentucky, territorial males begin singing during the first warm days of March.
Males often defend small nesting territories, so high densities of song sparrows may be present in good habitat. In courtship, the male sometimes chases the female, performing fluttering flights among the bushes with its neck outstretched and head held high.
Early clutches have been reported as early as April 1, but typically peak later in the month. Most pairs raise two broods and nesting continues into August.
The average size of a clutch is 4 young. Early nests are built on the ground, hidden by grasses, weeds and thick vegetation. Later nests are typically built about three feet off the ground in small trees, a tangle of vines or in shrubs.
Nests are constructed of dead grasses and weed stalks, lined with fine grasses, rootlets and sometimes animal hair.
Their eggs are a pale greenish white, heavily spotted with reddish brown. Incubation is apparently by female only, about 12 to 14 days.
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young normally leave the nest about 10 to 20 days after hatching, and remain with their parents about another 3 weeks.
Conservation Status
Some local populations are vulnerable, due to the loss of important habitat, but overall the species is still widespread and abundant.
Song sparrows are seed eaters during the late fall and winter and they relish the small seeds commonly found in wild bird mixes — black oil sunflower seeds, millet, and milo.
They will feed on hanging feeders, or trays laid on the ground where the seed is just piled up. They are busy little birds who are very active, social feeders. They don’t stay still for long.
The most common sparrow species in Kentucky look so much alike it’s often hard to tell them apart from a distance without binoculars.
