{"id":1359,"date":"2017-03-30T15:54:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T19:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vampstampnews.com\/wpbirdseed\/wordpress\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2021-04-08T15:16:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T19:16:43","slug":"chipping-sparrows-arrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/birdseedandbinoculars.com\/wordpress\/chipping-sparrows-arrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Chipping Sparrows Arrive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chipping Sparrow<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While this winter’s White-Throated Sparrows and Dark-Eyed Juncos will soon be leaving us to migrate up to Canada where they breed, Chipping Sparrows are now returning to Maryland and other parts of the US and Canada from their winter spent in the south. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Chipping Sparrow of the spring showed up in our yard this week. These tiny little guys are definitely welcomed back! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span>Estimated reading time: <\/span>5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Chipping Sparrow Eating Seed<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Identifying Chipping Sparrows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chipping Sparrows are the cutest member of the sparrow family that I’ve seen. They are tiny compared to most other sparrows, with crisp neat feathers that never seem out of place. In breeding plumage, they have a pale-grey\/frosty-white head and chest, a rufous cap and a black stripe through their eyes, brown wings with black streaks, and a long forked tail. (In the winter their coloring isn’t as bright and contrasty.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chipping Sparrows look quite a bit like American Tree Sparrows<\/a>, especially in the winter when chippies are a bit duller and browner. The color of the line through the eye differs though (black for the Chipping Sparrow and reddish brown for the American Tree Sparrow.) The American Tree Sparrow is just a tad bigger as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petite is the word I’d use for these birds. If you see them by themselves or just look at pictures in a bird guide, you might not realize just how tiny they are. It is when you see them hopping around next to other sparrows that their tiny size is so very apparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Chipping Sparrow and Two Dark-Eyed Juncos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Relative Sizes of Sparrows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Check out this Chipping Sparrow next to a a Dark-Eyed Junco (above.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Fox Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here he is again next to a Fox Sparrow who is even bigger (above.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This got me curious about the relative sizes of sparrows, so I used the iBird app to look up the typical length of some of the sparrows we tend to see in our area:<\/p>\n\n\n\n