Help with Sparrow Identification

Sparrows and other small brown birds can be a real pain to identify. Was that brown bird in the bush or hiding in the Blue Stem, a female indigo bunting, female house finch, or some kind of sparrow? And if it's a sparrow; what type? Song? Swamp? Chipping?

The good news is with a good pair of binoculars or a camera with a good zoom, our sparrow friends have some fairly distinct markings if you know what you are looking for.

Below are some examples.

White Crowned Sparrow has distinct black and white stripes on its head. It migrates into southern Wisconsin in the spring and can be often be easily found between late April and mid May. They are regular visitors to my yard and often scratch at the ground near our row of shrubs. I've also seen them in the willows and dogwoods in the marsh.


White Throated Sparrow. These sparrows are probably the ones most easily confused with White Crowned Sparrows. They migrate into Wisconsin around the same time; I've even seen them foraging in our yard together. They have a yellow patch with their white and black stripes. They also sing a different tune, I'd almost compare their song more with that of a Black Capped Chickadee; it's also my ringtone.


Chipping Sparrow. These tiny sparrows are about the smallest sparrows you'll find in Wisconsin. They also return in the spring, and they often hang around my yard through the summer. They have a distinct chestnut colored cap and and black stripe near their eyes.


American Tree Sparrow. These guys also have a distinctive chestnut cap. The strip near their eye tends to be a brown or chestnut color as well, and they have a fairly distinct white wing bar. These guys come down from Canada during the winter. They are pretty talented foragers; they can fly into a stand of Big Blue Stem, land on a stalk, bending it, and pick away at the seeds. I've typically only had them come visit my yard when there's snow on the ground.


Swamp Sparrow. I've yet to have one of these guys come visit my yard but I do often see them in the marsh when birding. They also return in the spring and will spend the summer in wetlands. They have a similar look to the American Tree Sparrows but their head is darker brown rather than chestnut. They often have a small white patch under the beak and can be found singing on low perches like a top reeds or in red osier dogwood on spring mornings starting in mid to late April.


Clay Colored Sparrow. Another which I've never spotted in my yard. Their light brown / khaki face with brown stripes and a white-ish under belly is fairly distinctive. I often see these guys in and around a tall grass prairie near home. They seem to prefer staying lower to the ground and often disappear into the grasses or lower branches of shrubs.


Fox Sparrow. The freak snow storms in April brought this chestnut colored beauty to our backyard for the first time this April. With a reddy chestnut color, gray-ish cap, and overall being fairly large for a sparrow; the Fox Sparrow is pretty distinct.


Song Sparrow. A true herald of spring. These guys migrate back to Wisconsin earlier in spring than many other birds. They can often be spotted near water like retention ponds, creeks, marshes, etc. They can be found perching at the end shrubs or trees singing their hearts out at sunrise. They are one of my favorite sounds when in the marsh, and they come to visit my yard from time to time. They have fairly distinctive streaky or striped underbellies and faces.

That's many but not all of the sparrows which pass through Wisconsin. One of my rules of thumb when tracking birds in our yard is to pay extra close attention to small brown birds because you never know when you've encountered a new species; you just need to look closely enough at a bird which might otherwise be perceived as boring.