Chipping Sparrow

The Chipping Sparrow is a slender, fairly long-tailed sparrow with a medium-sized bill that is a bit small for a sparrow. In summertime, Chipping Sparrows look clean and crisp, with frosty underparts, a pale face, a black line through the eye, topped off with a bright rusty crown. In wintertime, they are subdued buff brown, with darkly streaked upperparts. The black line through the eye is still visible, and the cap is a warm but more subdued reddish brown. Chipping Sparrows take cover in shrubs and sing from the tops of small trees (often evergreens). When singing, they cling to high outer limbs. On the ground, they hop or run through grasses searching for seeds; they often forage directly from forbs and grasses, too. At any time of the year, especially, in spring, Chipping Sparrows may be seen in trees foraging on fresh buds and gleaning for arboreal arthropods.