Hey everyone, it's Bobby from LycoBirds and in this video I'm going to cover identifying
a confusion pair of sparrows: Chipping Sparrow and American Tree Sparrow. And since I mostly
specialize in birds in the northeast, this is going to ignore immature birds because
young American Tree Sparrows aren't something you have to worry about due to their breeding range.
So, overall impressions... both species lack any notable dark streaking on the underside - the
chest, belly, flanks - and the upper parts on both are typically mostly browns and reds.
So, superficially they look fairly similar. Both species are fairly common, but for the most part
they don't overlap each other in timing, with Chipping Sparrows heading south just about the
time that American Tree Sparrows are arriving in their winter range and vice versa in the spring.
However, a small number of Chipping Sparrows are present in the northeast each winter,
particularly in Pennsylvania where I'm based, so
this is mostly a cold weather ID challenge given how far north American Tree Sparrows nest.
In other words, there's none around to cause confusion during the warmer months.
Chipping Sparrows have a non-breeding plumage and a breeding plumage to deal with, but we'll cover
that as we get to the relevant points. There aren't dramatic differences, but there's some
things to be aware of. American Tree Sparrows don't have separate plumages to worry about,
but like many species there is some variation in the intensity of the colors amongst the adults.
So, you'll find focusing on the head will lead to the most clues for separating these two species.
Chipping Sparrows have a dark eye line that continues through the eye onto the lores,
and the lores are the the area between the bill and the eyes. In contrast,
American Tree Sparrows have a rufous eye line, and if you're not familiar with the term "rufous,"
it's just a fancy word for reddish brown; it's used to describe bird plumages quite a bit.
And, that eye line does not continue onto the lores. So, you can see there it's gray.
A word of caution: depending on lighting sometimes the eye line can look
a little bit dark and the lores on either species can be tough to judge
in certain lighting conditions or certain poses, and also some Chipping Sparrows just don't have
very well-marked lores in the winter, so just be cautious with that.
One of the most cited field marks for American Tree Sparrows is their bi-colored bill,
with a grayish top - or upper mandible - and the yellowish bottom - or lower mandible.
Chipping sparrow, in contrast, has a pinkish bill in the winter and it darkens
as they get towards breeding plumage in the early spring.
American Tree Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows in breeding plumage
both have reddish crowns so you can see the the solid rufous crown on the
Tree Sparrow, and then on the breeding Chipping Sparrow you can see the reddish crown again.
Non-breeding Chipping Sparrows tend to have browner crowns with some fine streaking,
although there can be some individuals in the winter that have decidedly reddish crowns.
For example, this bird. You can see there's, you know,
it's not quite the same as the [breeding] adult but it's got a lot more red in it. Also
the overall facial color on the winter Chipping Sparrows - so basically the cheek area - tends
to be browner or sort of like a sandy color, and that really brings out the white eye arcs.
Chipping Sparrows in breeding plumage and American Tree Sparrows both have grayish cheeks.
You can see there's none of that sandy or brown color; same thing on the breeding plumage
Chipping Sparrow. And you can see the the eye arcs are kind
of present but they don't come out as much as against the the darker cheek.
So if we move down to focus on the body, American Tree Sparrows tend to show a single dark spot
in the middle of the chest. It's sometimes hard to see,
but it's usually present and many of them - and i would say probably most of them - show
a rufous wash in the sides here. Some birds are a little bit grayer... like i said, there's a
variation amongst the adults for how much color they actually have, but the head will retain the
the rufous color generally. And you can see from this second example the
dark dot is a lot more noticeable in this one but you can see the rufous wash again.
Chipping Sparrows, on the other hand, tend to just have
plain gray undersides: no dot, no rufous wash.
Sometimes they can look like they have maybe a little texture in the gray,
but for the most part it's nothing noticeable.
There's also some differences in structure between the two species. Chipping Sparrows are
very compact, and they look lower to the ground compared to the stockier American Tree Sparrow.
And American Tree Sparrows have a proportionately larger head, so their head often seems a little
large for their bodies, whereas Chipping Sparrows are the opposite: their heads look a little small
for their bodies. Stuff like that can take a little longer to absorb than some of the clear-cut
plumage features, and I think to some extent each person processes those subtle differences
differently, which is why it's always a good idea to study birds in the field closely
over a period of time instead of just quick looks before moving on. You can really start
to appreciate the subtle differences that make identification easier in the future.
Also note that female-type House Sparrows are sometimes confused with these species
but they show larger yellowish bills in the winter time and they have weaker facial features overall
and just their overall shape is different too just something to keep in mind if you're
just learning these for the first time So hopefully you're feeling a little more
confident in separating this often confused species pair, and if you found this helpful
please like the video and subscribe to our channel... and i will see you next time.