Breeding interval Song sparrows may breed once or twice during a breeding season.gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate).Females lay between 3 and 5 oval shaped, light blue or greenish-blue, spotted eggs. The nest is usually placed at the base of shrubs or clumps of grass. The nest is made of dead grasses, weed stems, roots, and bark shreds formed into a cup with rough outer layer lined with finer grasses and sometimes hair. The breeding season begins in April and ends in August. Typically all females and most males start breeding at age one. Females will 'henpeck' their mates by opening her bill at him and giving him small pecks. Females are more faithful to mates and reject advances of strange males while their mates come to their defense. They will also pounce near neighboring females while their mates are not close by. ![]() Males show readiness to mate by pouncing near their mate. Females select mates, probably based on the quality of his territory. Pair bonding occurs on the territory of the male. Females announce their identity by either a high pitched note, or a nasal kind of chatter. Males announce their identity by territorial singing and aggressive behavior. Males arrive ahead of females on the breeding grounds and begin to define their territory by puffing out their plumage, extending and fluttering their wings, and by singing from three or four main perches. Males have not been reported to feed their mates. Song sparrows are known to be monogamous with occasional polygyny being observed. Average basal metabolic rate 0.25 W AnAge.The tail is usually tinged with rusty, brown-red colored feathers, fairly long and rounded. The head is brown with a whitish or grayish crown stripe and eye stripe. They are most easily recognized by dark streaks that form a central chest spot (stick pin). ![]() Song sparrows exhibit heavily streaked plumage. Song sparrows are mid-sized sparrows measuring between 12-17 cm. In winter you can find them in marshes, tall weedy fields, moist ravines and brush piles. Song sparrows are usually found in open brushy habitats, mostly along the borders of ponds or streams, abandoned pastures, thickets or woodland edge. Permanent and summer residents inhabit breeding grounds. ![]() Song sparrows are referred to as partially migratory. This is one of the most common sparrows in North America and is highly variable geographically with 39 recognized subspecies in North America and Mexico (Pyle 1997). Song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, occurs over most of North America, with highest density population in the midwestern Great Lakes region.
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