Nesting and Mating Habits of the Song Sparrow
Aptly named, the Song Sparrow will sing as many as 20 different melodies with as many as 1,000 improvised variations on his basic theme. Let's discover this unique songsters courtship, nesting and feeding behaviors.
Song Sparrow
Description: Size - Field Marks
The Song Sparrow is 5 to 6 inches in length, heavily streaked gray-brown upperparts.
The underparts are a dull white and in the center of the breast is a dark spot. The breast is also streaked.
Head has brown crown, paler median stripe, pale gray eyebrow, white chin, dark brown mustache stripe. Rust-brown wings.
The tail is long, usually tinged rust-brown. Birds in some areas will vary, with paler subspecies in the Southwest and darker subspecies along the West Coast.
Song Sparrow Call
Mating-Courtship
In areas where the birds migrate, (not all migrate) the male arrives on the breeding ground ahead of the female.
He starts to define a territory by singing his song from three or four prominent perches. This practice can begin as early as February.
Song Sparrow Range
During this time the male will sing constantly while also defendings his territory.
When the female first arrives, the male will dive at her as he does with any other intruder, but the female does not flee.
In time, the male will accept this behavior and the two will begin to move about the territory together.
At this stage, the male will reduce his singing to only about ten Songs per hour.
Nesting
Once the nest building has started, which in southern CA can be as early as late Febuary, other northern breeding areas begin March - April, the male will renew his singing.
The nest is cup-shaped and made of grasses and occasionally leaves, placed on the ground early in the year, and up to 30 feet above the ground later in the season.
Although the male may carry nesting materials, it's the female who builds the nest.
The female lays one egg each day until the clutch of 3 to 5 greenish-white with dark marks is complete.
The female does all the incubation of the eggs. Incubation last 12 to 13 days and the young will leave the nest in about 10 - 12 days, barely able to fly.
| Song Sparrow Nesting Stats | |
|---|---|
| Eggs | 3 - 5 |
| Incubation | 12 - 13 days |
| Nestling Phase | 10- 12 days |
| Broods | 1 - 3 |
The parents will continue feeding the young for another 20 days. Within a week of this phase, the first egg of the next brood might be laid.
Song Sparrows may raise up to 3 broods a year.
Feeding Habits
Song Sparrows feed on the ground, eating seeds, insects, and some fruit. About two-thirds of their diet is plant matter and a third animal matter.
What insects they eat depends on what is available in that birds territory. You might attract these birds to feeders by scattering white millet seeds on the ground.
Fruits like blackberries and strawberries can be offered but likely will be eaten by other birds first.
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