Field Sparrow
Spizella pusilla

 Content and photos by James Giroux

Sparrows are often overlooked by the general population, and even by some birders. Because many of them look alike, there are a couple terms sometimes used by birders to categorize them all with a simple description – LBB (little brown birds) or LBJ (little brown jobs).  But with a little study and practice, one can begin to see that they all have different physical and behavioral characteristics.

The Field Sparrow is a fairly common bird in the Central Texas area, and is one of the few sparrow species that can be seen here year-round. In other words, it breeds here, and winters here.  It is distinguished from other sparrows by its gray and orangeish face, white eye-ring, and orangey-pink bill and legs. There are no streaks on the breast.  It also has a baby-faced appearance.

The Field Sparrow is in the genus Spizella, which contains the smallest sparrows in North America (Chipping, Brewers, Clay-colored and Black-chinned).  Weighing in at a mere 12 grams, it would take three Field Sparrows to make one ounce. By comparison, a White-crowned Sparrow weighs 28 grams, or a full ounce – three times heavier than a Field Sparrow!

In spring and summer, you can hear the distinctive song of the Field Sparrow if you are in the right habitat – brushy/open areas.  The song starts out slowly, similar to a cardinal’s long song, then it gets faster and faster like a bouncing ball coming to rest. The following spectrogram shows the effect.

Bob McGuire – Macaulay Library

The Black-chinned Sparrow, also in the Spizella genus, looks quite different from the Field Sparrow, but it also sings a “bouncy ball” song.

Black-chinned Sparrow

Unlike most of our Texas Sparrows which extend their range into the western states, the Field Sparrow is a strictly Eastern bird. Some Field Sparrows migrate north during the Spring, but others remain on their wintering grounds all year.

In the Austin area, Commons Ford Park is a good place to see Field Sparrow in the winter. In the spring and summer, you can see it and hear it sing its “bouncy ball” song.

Sources:

https://allaboutbirds.org
https://eBird.org

Cornell – Birds of the World