Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Grass
      or Upland Brush
      or Savanna
      or Fields/Pastures
      or Lowland Brush

Habitat List:

view size class definitions

Literature:

Habitat: Dense, brushy habitat, hedgerows, overgrown gardens, and wood margins with nearby streams or ponds are the most common sites in which to find the Song Sparrow. The Atlas Habitat Survey found the Song Sparrow in all but 4 habitats of the 22 categories. None were reported in urban, mesic conifer forest, shoreland, or open water areas. Preferred habitats were shrub wetland and shrub uplands in the northern and southern Lower Peninsula and shrub wetlands and old fields in the Upper Peninsula. The Song Sparrow occurred in the broadest array of habitats in the northern Lower Peninsula, followed by the Upper Peninsula, and the southern Lower Peninsula. In the southern Lower Peninsula, this sparrow appears to be relatively infrequent in wet and dry deciduous forests and, interestingly, old fields and row crops. Use of old fields in the northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula appears to be more frequent. It occurs in residential areas in the southern Lower Peninsula at about the same frequency that this habitat was represented in the total habitat sample.

The nest is constructed of coarse grasses and other materials with a lining of fine grass. It is usually placed on the ground under a tuft of grass, clump of weeds, shrub, or pile of brush. Later nests are frequently built above the ground in shrubs or small trees.

Males are frequently found singing their melodic trill from an elevated perch. Females generally stay hidden in the brush, as do males when not singing. Feeding occurs mostly on the ground.

Habitat: Breeding: Brushy fields, swamps, forest edges, roadsides, hedgerows, farms, suburbs, cities, shores of ponds and streams. Tolerates a wide range of habitat conditions. Wintering: Similar to breeding habitat.

Special Habitat Requirements: Songposts (elevated perches).

Habitat: Thickets, brush, marshes, roadsides, gardens. Habitats vary over its wide range. In most areas, found in brushy fields. Streamsides, shrubby marsh edges, woodland edges, hedgerows, well-vegetated gardens.

Diet: Mostly insects and seeds. Eats many insects, especially in summer, including beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, and wasps, also spiders. Feeds heavily on seeds, especially in winter, mainly those of grasses and weeds.

Nest: Site varies, usually on ground under clump of grass or shrub or less than 4 feet above ground, sometimes up to 10 feet or higher. Raised sites may be in shrubs, low trees, or marsh vegetation, often above water. Rarely nests in cavities in trees. Nest is an open cup of weeds, grass, leaves, strips of bark, lined with fine grass, rootlets, animal hair.