Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Singing from on High: Chipping Sparrow


A Male Chipping Sparrow sings while sitting high in a black walnut tree

Chipping Sparrows are normally found either on the ground or in low brush. During their mating season, males such as this one, perch high above the ground to sing their mating songs.

While gathering information on the Chipping Sparrows, I found that they commonly line their nest with hair. They will use any type of hair they can find and have even been observed picking strands of hair from sleeping dogs.

6 comments:

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Very cool picture of the sparrow. You have had a great Sping for birbing.

Unknown said...

Salty, We have much smaller brown sparrows here in Mississippi. Nice shot.

Here by way of Willard.

Tom said...

Hello Salty..
Great shot and info, I observed one of our 'House Sparrows' taking hair from my dog, this was over 20 years ago and the dog was a big long-haired German Sheperd.. a great dog I must add. He would lie there half asleep on the lawn and this one bird would creep up and pull loose hair from him. He would lift his head and open his eyes and the bird would fly onto the shed.
Since then if I have brushed any of the dogs I've had, I have saved the hair and put it on a bush in the garden.. Blackbirds, Starlings and Sparrows take it.

Anonymous said...

Interesting about the sparrow getting hair from Tom's dog. I have seen them pick hair up from my girls who used to sometimes brush their hair out of doors.

I have several chipping sparrows here. Small and fast and always looking for a bite to eat. I like to hear them too.

Nice shot, Salty.

photowannabe said...

We have many other types of sparrows here on the West Coast but no chipping sparrows. The dog hair info. is very interesting. I just love all the things I learn for the blogging community.

Shelley said...

I like how the sun highlights your chipping sparrow in this photo.