WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

American Tree Sparrow

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Spizella Arborea

Adults have a rusty cap and gray underparts with a small dark spot on the breast. They have a rusty back with lighter stripes, brown wings with white bars and a slim tail. Their face is gray with a rusty line through the eye. Their flanks are splashed with light brown. Their eyes are black., legs and feet are black too.

In winter their plumage is buffer, with rufous color on the crown, forming a central stripe.

Both sexes are alike.

Juveniles are streaked on head and underparts.

BILL: black upper mandible and yellow lower mandible.

SIZE: medium-sized, measuring 5.25 inches in length (including its slim, forked tail).

WEIGHT: weighs about 18 - 28 grams.

COLOR: rust, gray, black, brown, light brown, rufous and buff.

Primary Diet: omnivore.

Animal Foods: insects, terrestrial non-insect arthropods.

Plant Foods: seeds, grains, nuts, and fruits.

Open scrubby areas with willows, birches, alder thickets or stunted spruce, and also breed in open tundra with scattered shrubs, often near lakes or bogs. They winter in open forests, gardens, fields, and marshes.

Western Alaska to Labrador, and Southwards to Northern British Columbia and Quebec and spend winter from Southern Canada, Southwards to Northern Arizona, Northern Texas, and South Carolina.

Their call is a musical "teedle-eet", also utters a thin "seet" and high and sharp "tsiiw" when in flight. Their song begins with several clear notes, followed by a variable and rapid warbler. Both sexes use calls, but the males sing only one song.

NEST: The female builds a neatly- woven open cup nest, with moth, grasses, sedges, bark, and twigs. It is lined with fine grass, sedges, and feathers.

EGGS: 4 - 6 creamy-white, pale blue or green, speckled reddish eggs.

INCUBATION: 12 - 13 days, female only.

They are migratory and migrate during the night. They are territorial during the breeding season. Males sing to claim territories and are responsible for territory defense, though females also occasionally chase intruders.

The American Tree Sparrow is also known as the Winter Sparrow.

REFERENCES: http://www.oiseaux-birds.com

                         https://animaldiversity.org

                         https://en.wikipedia.org

                         https://www.beautyofbirds.com