Swamp Sparrow

Adults have streaked rusty, buff and black upperparts with a gray breast, light belly and a white throat. The wings are strikingly rusty. Most males and a few females have a rust-colored caps. Their face is gray with a dark line through the eye. They have a short bill and fairly long legs. Immatures and winter adults usually have two brown crown stripes and much of the gray is replaced with buff.

Picture of the Swamp Sparrow has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution.
Original source: Own work
Author: Kevin Bercaw

The Swamp Sparrow is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Swamp Sparrow, Melospiza georgiana, is a medium-sized sparrow related to the Song Sparrow. Adults have streaked rusty, buff and black upperparts with a gray breast, light belly and a white throat. The wings are strikingly rusty. Most males and a few females have a rust-colored caps. Their face is gray with a dark line through the eye. They have a short bill and fairly long legs. More

inland Swamp Sparrow subspecies in having more black in a grayer overall plumage, larger bill, different songs, and a smaller average clutch size. Their breeding habitat is marshes, including brackish marshes, across eastern North America and central Canada. The bulky nest is attached to marsh vegetation, often with leaves or grass arching over the top. Females give a series of chips as they leave the nest, probably to ward off attacks by their mate or neighboring males. More

The simple trills of the Swamp Sparrow ring in spring and summer across eastern and central North America. Its name is appropriate, as it does live in swamps, but it can be found in a wide range of other wetland habitats too. Come watch nesting birds at Nestcams. More

The Swamp Sparrow lives in marshes and other wetlands including swamps, bogs, wet meadows, and the brushy edges of streams and ponds. In the summer, its diet is 90 percent insects and other small invertebrates. The sparrow typically forages on the ground and is usually found in wetter areas than the Song Sparrow or Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas). In suitable habitats Swamp Sparrows form small colonies. Birders rarely see this secretive bird fly more than short distances. More

coastal plain swamp sparrow, an unusual subspecies of the more widespread swamp sparrow. More

Two different kinds of swamp sparrows are now on exhibit at the National Zoo, the southern swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana georgiana) which breeds from southern Canada to Maryland and winters in southeastern U.S.—and the coastal plain swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana nigrescens) which breeds along New Jersey to Virginia coast and winters along Virginia to the South Carolina coast. The 2 kinds of swamp sparrows breed in 2 different habitats. More

Swamp Sparrows are common at the Brigantine Wildlife Refuge especially in the fall. Most of these images of Swamp Sparrows were taken near the auto drive of the refuge. Swamp Sparrows tend to feed with other sparrows mostly Song Sparrows. Swamp Sparrows teld to respond to calls. Swamp Sparrows are found perching on bushes when investigating a call. More

Swamp Sparrow shows considerable variations in crown colour. Males have brighter crowns than females, overall in breeding season, when males have completely rusty crowns, and females have brown striped crowns. PROTECTION / THREATS / STATUS: The populations of Swamp sparrows appear to have held stable or increased slightly in the last century. Swamp Sparrow populations depend on wetland conservation. The predators of Swamp Sparrows include cats, dogs, diurnal and nocturnal raptors, and rodents. More

RegistrerenFans of the Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow is op Facebook.Registreer je bij Facebook om in contact te komen met Fans of the Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow. More

The Swamp Sparrow breeds from eastern Yukon and British Columbia eastward to Labrador, southward to eastern Nebraska to coastal Maryland and winters from southern New England to Florida, and from the southern Great Lakes region through Texas into much of the Mexican interior. As its name makes clear it’s a wetland species, usually found in freshwater and tidal marshes, bogs, meadows, and swamps, though in winter and on migration it sometimes appears in a variety of other habitats. More

The Swamp Sparrow has a large range, estimated globally at 6,000,000 square kilometers. Native to North America, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, this bird prefers inland wetland ecosystems, both saltwater and freshwater. The global population of this bird is estimated at 9,000,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Swamp Sparrow is Least Concern. More

Many people consider the Swamp Sparrow as a difficult bird to find in Bexar County. It is listed in our checklist as "uncommon" during winter. Yet there are places in the county where it is consistently, if not easily, found during the winter. The key is to know the habitat that the species likes. The Swamp Sparrow breeds across much of Canada south of the tundra, from NE British Columbia through Labrador, and south into the north central and north eastern U.S. as far south as Nebraska and Maryland. More

Swamp Sparrows begin singing very early in the day and will sometimes sing through the night, especially when there is moonlight. Nests are placed close to, but not on, the ground - usually about a foot high. They are attached to cattail stalks, placed on a tussock of grasses, or occasionally higher up in a shrub. Nests are sometimes lost in rising water because they are often placed directly over water. More

Swamp sparrows are somewhat small (as far as sparrows go) and generally on the move. I was particularly lucky earlier this month when one paused on some bare branches and posed from every angle. Swamp sparrow The swamp sparrow has a restrained color pattern: yes, stripes, but not particularly light or dark. Subtle. Swamp sparrow Although the swamp sparrow doesn't have wing bars, its wings are decidely reddish. More

Swamp Sparrow at Burnidge Forest Preserve, Elign Il - 6-16-08 Tags: Sort By Videos in "Birds" category Eastern Kingbir...Eastern Kingbird being blown in Wind - Burnidge Forest Preserve, Elgin, Il, - 7/11/08 Savannah Sparro...Savannah Sparrow at Burnidge Forest Preserve, Elgin, Il, at sunnset - 7/11/08 Willow Flycatch... More

might be confused with the Chipping Sparrow, but the Swamp Sparrow is bigger, bulkier, and occurs in very different habitat. It is a reddish-brown bird with dark stripes down its back. The neck and much of the face are gray, as is the breast. The throat is white and, like the breast, lacks streaks. back to top Habitat - Swamp Sparrows are seldom found far from water during the breeding season. More

swamp sparrowswamp sparrow - North American finch of marshy areaMelospiza georgianaNew World sparrow - sparrow-like North American finchesgenus Melospiza, Melospiza - American song sparrow and swamp sparrow How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. More

Tout (1947) recorded swamp sparrows once in spring and once in fall migration in Lincoln County. Rosche (1979) reported swamp sparrow as a summer resident in the Clear Creek marshes near Lewellen in Keith and Garden counties. Breeding Range: During the nesting season, swamp sparrow is restricted exclusively to the Platte River Valley physiographic region, where it is a rare and highly localized summer resident. More

The Swamp Sparrow is a plump little guy with an unstreaked gray underparts, a bright rufous cap, and rust colored wings. It does have a whitish throat but can be separated from the White-throated Sparrow which has a white crown as well as a whiter throat and lacks the rust-color on the wings. The breeding habitat consists of freshwater swamps and open wooded swamps of most of southern Canada and the northeastern quadrant of the United States. More

The Swamp Sparrow is a short-distance migrant that winters from eastern Nebraska across to Massachusetts, south to the Gulf Coast states, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico. The species is a common spring and fall migrant throughout Minnesota that arrives during late March through late May, and departs for its wintering grounds during early August through late November (Janssen 1987). More

A swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) had joined the sparrow throngs. Despite its rusty cap, though, it is most closely related to the song sparrow and Lincoln’s sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii), the latter of which is an uncommon migrant in Pennsylvania and does not breed in the state. More

The swamp sparrow has a gray throat and eyebrow, a brown back, and a white chin. It has a reddish-brown tail, crown (top of the head), and wings. During breeding season, this bird has a plain gray breast, but when it is not breeding, it has blurred streaks on its breast. Voice The swamp sparrow's call is a loud chip and its song is a slow "chinga chinga chinga. More

Swamp Sparrow in Central Park The Swamp Sparrow above is one of the species that has moved into the area over the last week or so. They can be found virtually anywhere the ground resembles, well, a swamp. More

Picture of Melospiza georgiana above has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.
Original source: Jeff Whitlock
Author: Jeff Whitlock
Permission: Some rights reserved
Order : Passeriformes
Family : Emberizidae
Genus : Melospiza
Species : georgiana
Authority : (Latham, 1790)