Swamp Sparrow

Overview

Swamp Sparrow: Small sparrow with dark-streaked brown upperparts, gray upper breast, and pale gray, faintly streaked underparts. Head has rust-brown cap with paler median stripe and gray face. The wings are rust-brown with black-and-white streaks. Eats seeds, insects. Pink legs, feet.

Range and Habitat

Swamp Sparrow: Breeds in Canada and the northern regions of eastern and central U.S., and spends winters in southeastern U.S. and Mexico. Preferred habitats include freshwater marshes, wetlands, bogs, and margins along streams and ponds; also found in salt marshes.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Swamp Sparrow has longer legs than other members of its genus; this adaptation allows it to wade in shallow water to forage.
It sometimes sticks its head under water to try to capture aquatic invertebrates.
They begin singing very early in the day and will sometimes sing through the night, especially when there is moonlight.
A group of sparrows has many collective nouns, including a "crew", "flutter", "meinie", "quarrel", and "ubiquity" of sparrows.

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.