Chicago, Illinois, USA Common Sparrows 1 Mark Vaughan
Photos by Mark Vaughan unless indicated. Produced by Mark Vaughan with the help of Tatzyana Wachter. © Mark Vaughan [[email protected]] Birds captioned in red are uncommon in Chicago [fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org] Rapid Color Guide # 881 version 2 08/2017
1 American Tree Sparrow 2 Chipping Sparrow 3 Clay-colored Sparrow 4 Field Sparrow Spizella arborea Spizella passerina Spizella pallida Spizella pusilla EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE Preferred Habitat: Weedy edges of woods, Preferred Habitat: Lawn-like areas with Preferred Habitat: Lake front parks, in Preferred Habitat: Brambles, thickets, weedy fields, sometimes yard feeders. trees or thickets. Golf courses, cemeteries, shrubs, thickets, brush in and near fields. brush in and near weedy or grassy fields. Seasonal: Late-October to mid-April rural yards and edges of woods. Seasonal: Late-April to late-May and Seasonal: Early-April to late-September Field Marks: Dark central spot on breast, Seasonal: Mid-April to late-September mid-September to mid-October Field Marks: White eye-ring, pinkish bi-colored bill and mostly rufous crown Field Marks: Dark eye-line, rufous crown Field Marks: Strong dark “mustache”, bill, rufous & gray overall and rufous & and unstreaked whitish gray breast gray nape and bright buffy breast gray crown
5 Fox Sparrow 6 Grasshopper Sparrow 7 Harris Sparrow 8 Henslow’s Sparrow Passerella iliaca Ammodramus savannarum Zonotrichia querula Ammodramus henslowii EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE Preferred Habitat: Woodland thickets, Preferred Habitat: Fallow or grassy fields, Preferred Habitat: Thickets, hedgerows, Preferred Habitat: Open fields and wood edges, & in brushy or weedy fields. lake front parks during migration. and woodland edges, lake front parks. meadows with grass mixed with weeds. Seasonal: Mid-March to mid-April and Seasonal: Mid-April to late-August Seasonal: Spotty early in year and Lake front parks during migration. early-October to mid-November Field Marks: Large bill, buffy breast & mid-September to late-October Seasonal: Mid-April to late-August Field Marks: Bright rufous streaks radiate throat, complete eye-ring and rufous, Field Marks: Pink bill, black bib, mostly Field Marks: Large bill, white eye-ring, from central breast blotch, rufous & gray black & gray back white underside and gray head narrow streaks on breast and rufous head and bright rufous wings & tail wings & back
9 House Sparrow (male) 10 House Sparrow (female) 11 Lark Sparrow 12 LeConte’s Sparrow Passer domesticus Passer domesticus Chondestes grammacus Ammodramus leconteii PASSERIDAE PASSERIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE Comment: Invasive species and actually a Comment: Invasive species and actually a Preferred Habitat: Weedy fields or edges Preferred Habitat: Lake front parks, wet Finch not a sparrow despite the name. Finch not a sparrow despite the name. of woods with sandy soil, scattered trees grass or sedge fields and fallow fields. Preferred Habitat: Areas with human Preferred Habitat: Areas with human and large shrubs present. Seasonal: Mid-April to mid-May and habitation. habitation. Seasonal: Late-April to early-September mid-September to mid-October Seasonal: Year-round resident Seasonal: Year-round resident Field Marks: Bold rufous, black & Field Marks: Small bluish bill, distinct Field Marks: Stout yellowish-gray bill, Field Marks: Stout yellowish-gray bill, white face and dark spot on clean stripes on flanks & breast and bright black bib on throat & chest, gray head & brown throat, chest and belly. Brown whitish breast buff face & breast belly and rufous neck head and eye line
Chicago, Illinois, USA Common Sparrows 2 Mark Vaughan
Photos by Mark Vaughan unless indicated. Produced by Mark Vaughan with the help of Tatzyana Wachter. © Mark Vaughan [[email protected]] Birds captioned in red are uncommon in Chicago [fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org] Rapid Color Guide # 881 version 2 8/2017
13 Lincoln’s Sparrow 14 Nelson’s Sparrow 15 Savannah Sparrow 16 Song Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii Ammodramus nelsoni Passerculus sandwichensis Melospiza melodia EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE Preferred Habitat: Wood edges, thickets, Preferred Habitat: Inland grassy fresh Preferred Habitat: Grassy fields and Preferred Habitat: Wood edges, thickets shrubs and wet bushy areas. Lake front water marshes and wet prairies. meadows with short grass. and in bushes that are open or semi-open. parks during migration. Seasonal: Mid to late-May and mid- Seasonal: Early-April to late-October Seasonal: Year-round resident Seasonal: May and mid-September to September to late-October Field Marks: Pointed pink bill, streaked Field Marks: Throat stripes radiate from mid-October Field Marks: Bluish bill and bright orange breast, yellow spot between bill & eye, central breast blotch, brown & gray Field Marks: Small slender bill, buffy face and breast. White belly with gray strong eye-line and “mustache crown stripes and coarse broad brown eye-ring, white belly, buffy breast with collar streaks on breast dark streaks and crisp dark streaks on flanks and breast
17 Swamp Sparrow 18 Vesper Sparrow 19 White-crowned Sparrow 20 White-throated Sparrow Melospiza georgiana Poecetes gramineus Zonotrichia leucophrys Zonotrichia albicollis EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE EMBERIZIDAE Preferred Habitat: Marshy areas bordered Preferred Habitat: Grassy and weedy Preferred Habitat: Fields with scattered Preferred Habitat: Woods, edges of with thickets and tangles. Woody edges fields, fallow or cultivated fields. Prefer thickets, bushes or tangles. Also, woods, weedy fields, thickets. Lake front during migration. drier areas with bushes or hedgegrows. woodland edges. during migration. Seasonal: Mid-March to late-October Seasonal: Early-April to late-August Seasonal: Mid-April to mid-May and mid- Seasonal: Mid-September to mid-May Field Marks: Small slender bill with Field Marks: White eye-ring, uniformly September to late-October Field Marks: Dark bill, white throat, yellow base, clean gray breast, rufous streaked back, pale white jaw line and off- Field Marks: Pinkish-orange bill, black bright white “eyebrow,” yellow spot crown and buffy-rufous flanks white belly and white “bike helmet” crown, plain gray between bill and eye underside and broad white “eyebrow
Seasonal data is based on Chicago Area Birds by Steven Mlodinow.
Determining Commonness is based on information from Sibley’s, Stokes and Mlodinow references. Sparrows captioned in red are considered uncommon while those in black are considered more common. A certain sparrow can be seasonally common for a short period of time and not present the remainder of the year. Others, like the House Sparrow, are common throughout the year.
A special thanks to Matthew A. Young, Collection Management, Leader Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Also, Tatzyana Wachter, Conservation Ecologist and Consultant, for preparing the Rapid Color Guides at The Field Museum. Finally, thanks to Jaculin Bowman, Chuck Tuttle, John Picken, Kenneth Cole Schneider and Josh Engel for sharing some of their fantastic images.
References:
Chicago Area Birds by Steven Mlodinow, 1984, published by Chicago Audubon Society. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley, 2003, published by Alfred A. Knopf. Sparrows of the United States and Canada. The Photographic Guide by David Beadle and James Rising, 2002, Princeton University Press. The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America by David and Lillian Stokes, 2010, Little, Brown & Co.