Swamp Sparrow
Like the sandpiper, the Swamp Sparrow often wades into shallow water picking beetles, ants, crickets, and other insects off the surface. It also looks for grass and sedge seeds.

The Swamp Sparrow lives in marshes and other wetlands including swamps, bogs, wet meadows, and the brushy edges of streams and ponds. In the summer, its diet is 90 percent insects and other small invertebrates. The sparrow typically forages on the ground and is usually found in wetter areas than the Song Sparrow or Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas). In suitable habitats Swamp Sparrows form small colonies.

Birders rarely see this secretive bird fly more than short distances. When disturbed, it often runs away on the ground like a mouse. It does, however, readily respond to spishing, a noise that birders make to attract birds.

The male regularly sings from prominent perches throughout his territory. Reminiscent of the song of the Chipping Sparrow, the Swamp Sparrow's trilling song is typically louder, slower, and more musical. On occasion the male will perform a song flight, singing a jumble of notes quite unlike the common trilled song. Swamp Sparrows begin singing very early in the day and will sometimes sing through the night, especially when there is moonlight.

Nests are placed close to, but not on, the ground -- usually about a foot high. They are attached to cattail stalks, placed on a tussock of grasses, or occasionally higher up in a shrub. Nests are sometimes lost in rising water because they are often placed directly over water. The female lays four or five speckled eggs inside a cup of fine grasses that is surrounded by a bulky and coarse foundation. The entrance to the nest is often on the side and it is usually concealed from above by vegetation.

The Swamp Sparrow inhabits most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, except for the Great Plains. During the breeding season, it ranges southward though New England and New York to Maryland and central West Virginia along the East Coast and into Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas farther west. In winter, it is found throughout the South as far west as Texas and southward into Mexico. A few remain in the breeding range in locations with open water. During migration and winter, it will settle for drier habitats such as brushy fields, but only where the ground is moist.
Swamp Sparrow Range Map

Description: The Swamp Sparrow is a medium-sized sparrow, slightly smaller and shorter-tailed than its close relative, the Song Sparrow. Perhaps because of the Swamp Sparrow's wading habits, it also has longer legs.

Male and female Swamp Sparrows differ only slightly, with the female's crown usually duller. An adult in breeding plumage has a dark rufous crown, a narrow black eye stripe, and gray on the sides of the face, neck, breast and belly. Its clean white throat contrasts sharply with its gray breast and is separated by a thin dark stripe from the pale malar stripe. The sparrow's back is light brown, streaked with darker brown and its wings show a noticeable rufous shoulder patch in all plumages. The flanks and undertail coverts are buffy.

A nonbreeding adult has a browner crown that shows black streaking, often with a gray median stripe. The ear coverts may be buffier also. A juvenile is extremely similar to a juvenile Song Sparrow or Lincoln's Sparrow (M. lincolnii). The Song Sparrow is the largest of the three species with white, rather than buffy malar stripes. A juvenile Swamp Sparrow shows more rust coloring on the wings and less streaking on the crown and throat.


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