Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The American Tree Sparrow

By: Tom Berg

Sparrows are often called “little brown birds”, and for good reason. There are lots of different species of sparrows in North America, and many of them are small and brown! It can be very difficult to tell them apart, at least until you know what you are looking for. The American tree sparrow is one of those non-descript brown birds at first glance, but they are actually fairly easy to identify.

American tree sparrows are small and plump. They are mostly brown and gray, with a reddish brown or rusty cap on top of their head. Their breast is grayish-white to buff colored, and is not streaked. One of the best identifiers is their beak. They have a two-toned beak that is black on top and yellow on the bottom.

One of the strangest things about the American tree sparrow is their name. They were named “tree sparrows” by European settlers since they resembled Eurasian tree sparrows, but they should actually be called “ground sparrows” since they don’t spend much time at all in trees. They spend almost all of their time on the ground where they search for various seeds and grains to feed upon. Even their nests are built on the ground.

These sparrows are commonly seen in the central and northern United States during the winter and early spring, but then they migrate to the tundra of the far north in Alaska and extreme northern Canada to breed. They spend their entire breeding season on the tundra above the treeline, which explains why they build their nests on the ground instead of in trees.

Since American tree sparrows prefer cold northern locales, they need a lot of food to maintain their body heat and keep their energy levels high. Adults need to consume 30 percent of their body weight every day just to survive. Luckily they only weigh one ounce (or less), so finding enough food is not usually a problem. If they do go more than a day without food, though, it is usually fatal.

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