Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Song Sparrow
Description: A small bird with heavily streaked body, gray head with chestnut or brown markings. Belly is white and streaked. Central spot on chest. Brown tail and wings.
Nest: A bulky cup of weed stems, straw, coarse grasses. Lined with softer grasses, fine plant stems, and plant fibers. Nest is typically placed in a low shrub or on the ground, often in a tussock. Often in brush piles, near the base of shrubs in fields, or even under a rock overhang close to the ground. Nests often contain hair in the lining, particularly deer hair.
Eggs: 3 - 5 pale green eggs heavily marked with brown especially at the larger end. Frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird.
Diet: Small insects and weed seeds, will come to feeders. Eats mostly millet and sorghum seeds at feeders. Often it is the last bird at the feeder in the evening.
Habitat: Wet meadows, hedge rows, brush piles, marshes and thickets.
Nest: A bulky cup of weed stems, straw, coarse grasses. Lined with softer grasses, fine plant stems, and plant fibers. Nest is typically placed in a low shrub or on the ground, often in a tussock. Often in brush piles, near the base of shrubs in fields, or even under a rock overhang close to the ground. Nests often contain hair in the lining, particularly deer hair.
Eggs: 3 - 5 pale green eggs heavily marked with brown especially at the larger end. Frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird.
Diet: Small insects and weed seeds, will come to feeders. Eats mostly millet and sorghum seeds at feeders. Often it is the last bird at the feeder in the evening.
Habitat: Wet meadows, hedge rows, brush piles, marshes and thickets.