Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
A fairly widespread small bird mostly foraging on the ground for seed with a preference for coniferous forests or farmland, parks and gardens. It is a migratory bird, spending winter in the south of the US or Mexico.
How to Identify
In the breeding season, the species displays a red cap and a clearly distinct black line through the eyes. Outside the breeding season the cap is brown and the black line less contrasted.
Where and When to Spot
I observed this sparrow less frequently on Montreal Island. I saw them once in Park Angrignon.
Common Names
Chipping Sparrow
Schwirrammer (de)
Chimbito común (es)
Bruant familier (fr)
Taxonomy
Passeriformes
Passerellidae
Spizella passerina