the Chipping Sparrow EAUME R Its Natural History OM T 2020 Chipping Sparrow ▬ The Chipping Sparrow Its Natural History © Tom Reaume 2020 London, Ontario, Canada [email protected] Cover photographs by Tom Reaume – TR A FREE ebook of 160 pages Created using InDesign & Photoshop Elements on an iMac Typeface – Arial was designed in 1982 by a 10-person team led by Patricia Saunders and Robin Nicholas. Settings 10 / 13 / 50 Most Photographs and ink drawings are by the author – TR Juvenile – TR 2 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Figures Page Boxes 45 CHSP data from one nest in Winnipeg, Manitoba 57 CHSP brooding periods of nestlings – TR 85 CHSP grain size eaten vs bill size in Texas Diagrams 46 CHSP nest positions from tree trunk 103 Auditory pathway in the brain of a songbird 104 Small songbird ear labyrinth 136 CHSP new species of nasal mite (female) in Canada Graphs 29 CHSP abundance in 4 habitats in Massachusetts 64 Peak hatching data for 3 sparrows in MN 97 CHSP dawn and daytime singing patterns in breeding stages 102 CHSP number of notes from 461 trills 105 CHSP juvenile calls, day 20, F vs M 113 CHSP banding numbers in ON and at Long Point, 1987–2013 120 Banding encounter rates of small birds, 1955–1995 135 CHSP response to the arrival of West Nile virus in 1999 Lists 8 Eight Spizella species of sparrows 10 Sister taxa of 7 species of sparrows Maps 9 CHSP boundaries of 3 subspecies 15 CHSP behavioral ranges 17 Brown-headed Cowbird behavioral ranges 35 CHSP breeding bird survey 1966–2011 52 CHSP distribution squares for the MB Breeding Bird Atlas, Feb 2014 90 CHSP winter sightings in its breeding range 114 CHSP banding encounters 117 CHSP banding effort locations in Canada Sonograms 96 CHSP trill 98 CHSP changes in dawn to daytime singing 99 Mobbing calls of Chipping and Field Sparrows 99 CHSP male trill about midway 3 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ 100 CHSP song variation between CA and OH 101 Differences in trill of CHSP and Dark-eyed Junco 105 CHSP juvenile begging calls, day 20, F vs M 106 CHSP juvenile begging and subsong differences at day 25 Tables 19 CHSP nest outcomes of normal and parasitized nests 42 CHSP clutch sizes in 3 locations 53 CHSP clutch size and nesting success in Algonquin PP 61 CHSP nestling growth from days 1–10 69 CHSP nesting success from 2 studies 79 CHSP insects eaten in Michigan 83 CHSP insects eaten in Texas 86 CHSP seeds of wild plants eaten in Texas 112 CHSP banded and encountered in USA by state 112 CHSP banded and encounters in Canada by province, 1960–2013 115 CHSP banding data, 1955–1995 in Canada 116 CHSP banded in Canada by province, 1921–1995 116 CHSP returns in 1925 from birds banded in 1924 118 CHSP banding peaks in 2010–2013 near Pittsburgh 119 CHSP juvenile and adult ratios banded in NH 1927 123 CHSP annual cycle of migration, nesting, molting RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD displaying atop a spruce on 4 June 2014 in Winnipeg, MB. –TR 4 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Inside 6 Introduction 8 Taxonomy 11 Plumage, Molt 14 Range 17 Cowbirds 23 Field Surveys – TR 34 Nesting 75 Feeding 93 Predators 96 Singing 111 Banding 123 Migration 132 Parasites – TR 138 Miscellaneous 144 References 157 Index 5 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Introduction Introduction Science is not a dead cathedral. It is live and A report from the late 1800s describes the it is fun, and it is full of passion. taming of this little bird. In 1891 Amelia Watson described a CHSP’s nest “in a honeysuckle – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove vine which covers a stairway and balcony to my studio.” By sitting about one meter away and waiting, the female sparrow soon became his first book on the Chipping trusting enough to land on its nest. “I was so Sparrow was begun in 2014 in near that we sat and looked into each other’s Winnipeg, Manitoba and resumed eyes.” Both adults fed on crumbs on her in the spring of 2015 in London, balcony. Soon the female was eating crumbs Ontario, where I redid the book to from her hand. While on her nest she “would let Treduce its size. me stroke and cover her with my hand.” After CHIPPING SPARROW adult at the visitor center, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario. 6 May 2007 by Mdf (wiki) 6 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Introduction the 2 eggs hatched she regained some of her wariness (Watson 1894). mong the 914 bird species in North America, I most enjoy the accessibility and color of common species. Observing behavior in a birdA intrigues me more than rarity of its flesh. Sparrows are a concealed, but delightful family of small birds, adroitly costumed with various shades of dark chocolate, nut-brown, sepia, tan, chestnut, rust, gray, caramel, white, black, and an artistic smudge of charcoal such as the breast spot on a Song Sparrow. Among the autumnal fields of dried wildflowers and grasses they visually disappear. Glowing in pastel patterns, they move rather quickly among trees and shrubs, arched grasses and over the bumpy brown earth. One species of sparrow may not seem important, but its wingbeat and song interact with plants, insects and animals. It has evolved, developed a culture and history, and continues along its royal road of adventure. The consciousness of a Chipping CHARLES WILLSON PEALE (1741–1827) Sparrow is among us. Nature is a satisfaction Self-Portrait with Angelica and Portrait of ancient rhythms and movements, from of Rachel (about 1783). Peale had a great jumping electrons, to quietly dividing cells, to interest in natural history, and organized a cover of sepals spreading to reveal a flower, the first U.S. scientific expedition in 1801. to migratory trails. Ecologies twist and turn in His two major interests combined in his the winds, powered by the distant glow from a founding the Philadelphia Museum, later yellowish, floating furnace of nuclear fusion. known as Peale’s American Museum. A Introducing a course on natural history Renaissance man, he had expertise not delivered at the University of Pennsylvania in only in painting but in many diverse fields, 1799, Charles Willson Peale “So irresistibly including carpentry, dentistry, optometry, bewitching is the thirst for knowledge with shoe making, and taxidermy (wiki) science and nature that neither the want of funds, nor the leisure from other occupations, could damp my ardour” (Burns 1932). – TR 7 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Taxonomy Taxonomy he family EMBERIZIDAE, within the order Passeriformes, includes American Tree Sparrow, 16 cm long buntings, juncos, New World Spizella arborea sparrows, and towhees (del Hoyo Field Sparrow, 15 cm et al 2011). Spizella pusilla According to The National Geographic Chipping Sparrow, 14 cm T Field Guide To The Birds of North America Spizella passerina (6th edition), there are 13 genera divided into Clay-colored Sparrow, 14 cm 35 native North American species captioned Spizella pallida with the common name sparrow. The early Brewer’s Sparrow, 14 cm name for the Chipping Sparrow, Fringilla Spizella breweri passerina, was given by JM Bechstein in 1798 Black-chinned Sparrow, 15 cm at the type location of Quebec City, Canada. Spizella atrogularis The Chipping Sparrow, translation to French Worthen’s Sparrow, 14 cm is, Bruant familier; in Spanish, Chingolo Spizella wortheni cejiblanco (del Hoyo et al 2011). Timberline Sparrow, 14 cm Common names for the Chipping Sparrow Spizella taverneri are Le Pinson Familier (The Familiar Finch), Chippie, and Hair Bird, the latter referring to The International Union for Conservation of its habit of lining its nest cup with horse hair. Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists When John James Audubon painted the the Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, Chipping Sparrow in 1821, its scientific name as a species of Least Concern (LC). was Fringilla socialis. In the late 1880s, the Partners In Flight (PIF) estimates the scientific name designated by Alexander Wilson North American breeding population at 230 was Spizella socialis. Other early names million Chipping Sparrows, with 56% breeding of the Chipping Sparrow were the Russet- in Canada, 38% breeding or wintering in the capped Sparrow, Spizella arborea arborea United States, and 49% spending some part (Wilson); Passer domesticus of Bartram, and of the year in Mexico. the Fringilla domesticus of Barton. Eventually it became known as Spizella passerina, the Genetic Magic & Subspecies name used in this free ebook. Four Chipping Sparrows, examined from The type specimen for the Chipping Sparrow widely separated locations, had similar is an adult male resting in the Smithsonian haplotypes (a set of DNA variations that tend Institution, number 194942 collected at Fort to be inherited together) (Dodge et al 1995). Simpson, Mackenzie, (now NWT) Canada, It is estimated the mtDNA of the CHSP’s about 500 km west of Yellowknife on 23 May genome is about 16,500. A total of 21 1904 by Edward A Preble. There are 8 native haplotypes was observed among 55 Chipping sparrows in the genus Spizella in North Sparrows. However, there was no detectable America (Dunn, Alderfer 2011). geographic variation in haplotypes, Thus, 8 ▬ Tom Reaume Chipping Sparrow ▬ Taxonomy YT Canada NB Hudson Bay CB AB SK SB MB WA Sp boreophila MN U S A WI Atlantic Sp arizonae Ocean Sp passerina NC CA Pacific LA Ocean Gulf of Mexico Mexico CHIPPING SPARROW Approximate North American boundaries of three apparent subspe- cies – arizonae, boreophila and passerina. Abbreviations are the locations of 13 collecting sites. AB – Alberta (n 3), CA – Southern California (9), CB – Central British Columbia (3), LA – Louisiana (3), MB – Manitoba (8), MN – Minnesota (2), NB – Northern British Columbia (7), NC – North Carolina (1), SB – Southeastern British Columbia (5), SK – Saskatchewan (7), WA – Washington (3), WI – Wisconsin (2), YT – Yukon (n 2).