10-05-2019 New Jersey USA
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Passerellidae
Genus:Melospiza
Species:M. melodia
Binomial name
Melospiza melodia
Songs and Calls
Song consists of 3 short notes followed by a varied trill, sometimes interpreted as Madge-Madge-Madge, put-on-your-tea-kettle-ettle-ettle.
FamilyNew World Sparrows
HabitatThickets, brush, marshes, roadsides, gardens. Habitat varies over its wide range. In most areas, found in brushy fields, streamsides, shrubby marsh edges, woodland edges, hedgerows, well-vegetated gardens. Some coastal populations live in salt marshes. Nests in dense streamside brush in southwestern deserts, and in any kind of dense low cover on Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
Very widespread in North America, this melodious sparrow is among the most familiar birds in some areas, such as the Northeast and Midwest. At times it is rather skulking in behavior, hiding in the thickets, seen only when it flies from bush to bush with a typical pumping motion of its tail. Usually, however, sheer numbers make it conspicuous. Song Sparrows vary in appearance over their wide range, from large dark birds on the Aleutians to small pale ones in the desert Southwest.
Feeding Behavior
Forages mostly on the ground, sometimes scratching in the soil to turn up items. Also sometimes forages in very shallow water (fractions of an inch deep) and up in shrubs and trees. Will come to bird feeders placed close to good cover.
Eggs
Typically 4, often 3-5, rarely 2-6. Pale greenish white, heavily spotted with reddish brown. Incubation is apparently by female only, about 12-14 days. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young normally leave the nest about 10-12 days after hatching, remain with their parents about another 3 weeks.
Young
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young normally leave the nest about 10-12 days after hatching, remain with their parents about another 3 weeks.
Diet
Mostly insects and seeds. Eats many insects, especially in summer, including beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and many others, also spiders. Feeds heavily on seeds, especially in winter, mainly those of grasses and weeds. Birds in coastal marshes and on islands also feed on small crustaceans and mollusks, perhaps rarely on small fish.
Nesting
Males often defend only small nesting territories, so high densities of Song Sparrows may be present in good habitat. In courtship, male may chase female; may perform fluttering flight among the bushes with neck outstretched and head held high. Nest site varies, usually on ground under clump of grass or shrub, or less than 4' above the ground, sometimes up to 10' or higher. Raised sites may be in shrubs, low trees, or marsh vegetation, often above water. Rarely nests in cavities in trees. Nest (built mostly or entirely by female) is an open cup of weeds, grass, leaves, strips of bark, lined with fine grass, rootlets, animal hair.
