Happy Earth Day!! In our troubled times, fraught with all manner of chaotic maneuvers at the hands of our national leaders, one can start to feel desperate for anything that might point toward normalcy. Is there anything out there that might suggest that something — anything — is still working according to plan? Well, the answer is yes! We are in the midst of a global movement that shines a light on the idea that there are some things that still have the potential to be normal.
Specifically, I am speaking of the spring migration of the birds. Quite separate from any human activities, the birds are locked into the rhythm of the seasons and they will act on their own schedules to achieve their own goals. In this instance, the main goal is reproduction and the continuation of their own species. We don’t have to do anything to manage this process, but we can try to make sure that it is as easy as possible on these tiny creatures that travel hundreds, even thousands of miles to be here.
So I am going to guess that most have noticed that this year has started off on the cold side of things. We experienced an old-fashioned winter and, at least in my case, it was a bit of reminder of the days of my youth. However, as a boy I never paid any attention to the birds in my yard in any real or meaningful way. They were there, but I didn’t really know any sort of details about any of them. Fast forward 40 years, and I am now keenly aware of who is arriving when, and this adds a level of both joy and worry to the spring migration.
Every day I look and listen for new faces to arrive and I begin to worry if someone is “late.” I keep track of first sightings for each year to see if I can establish a calendar for the events in my own yard and by doing this I feel that I keep myself attuned to the events unfolding around me. I always seek out evidence of normalcy and this year I have found plenty of evidence to suggest that things are still on track.
For instance, take the arrival of the chipping sparrows (Spizella passerina) that appeared at my house on April 14. To search for patterns, I have to dig out a large, white three-ring binder that hides under my desk and I have to open the pages to an extensive list of species and the first sighting made for every year going back to 2009. These records are only accessed once per year, but I keep them as accurate as possible for situations just like this. My earliest observation of a chipping sparrow was on April 7, 2023. The latest observation date was May 1, 2016. There are many variables to consider (perhaps too many) when trying to figure out why the birds arrived when they did, but raw observational data is all I have to work with here. Chipping sparrows arrive in April, and their arrival tends to be in the middle of the month.
Well, these adorable little birds are right on time this year. Found as a breeding bird in all of the continental states of the United States, the chipping sparrow spends the winter months in the warmer climes of Florida, southern California (including Baja) and Mexico. Some of the birds from the Eastern United States will even spill down into the Caribbean in an effort to avoid the cold and inhospitable conditions of our northern winter.
Then, when winter starts to fade, these birds flood back into our great northern continent to take advantage of the astounding amount of real estate and food that the conditions of summer will make available to them. Equally at home in Alaska and Louisiana, the birds are not particularly picky about their surroundings. They like pine trees, but will not require extensive pine forests. They will nest in parks and garden areas wherever there is food to be found. The adults will eat insects in the summer, and they will feed insects to their chicks, but then they will easily switch over to a diet of seeds in the wintertime. One of the books in my library contained a curious entry that stated that chipping sparrows can subsist on a diet of dry seeds with no water for up to three weeks. These little birds are survivors!
I’ve described the chipping sparrow as a “little” bird a couple of times, so I probably need to offer a bit of an explanation. Sparrows tend to be chunky little birds that spend a lot of their time foraging for food on the ground. Even the largest sparrows are smaller than an American Robin, but with every group of birds there will be one that is generally considered the smallest. Here, in the Eastern U.S., the title of smallest sparrow goes to the chipping sparrow. Generally between 5-6 inches in length (much of it accounted for by tail feathers) this little bird only weighs in at half an ounce; roughly the same size as a Black-capped Chickadee.
Key features of the species are the “clean” white breast feathers, the black eye-line, and the rusty cap of feathers on top of the head. Next to a blue jay, or a common grackle, the chipping sparrow is absolutely minuscule, but that only adds to their charm. Even in an area where large numbers of larger birds are attracted for food (like my deck) the chipping sparrows will join in the feast. Because they are so small they tend to like the smaller seeds made available to them (white millet is a favorite) and this gives them a chance to feed on the leftovers after the larger birds have cleaned up the larger seeds.
The song of a male chipping sparrow is a sustained high-pitched trill that could easily be confused for the sounds made by a cricket. As always, there are other birds with similar songs that can be found in the same places, so chipping sparrows can often be overlooked. However, if you sprinkle mixed birdseed (containing white millet) on the ground in the same place every day, and if you pay close attention to the birds that visit, then you will likely notice one of these tiny birds contentedly hopping around and taking advantage of the free food that you have so generously offered.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 28 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more information visit www.speakingofnature.com, Speaking of Nature on Facebook, or the Speaking of Nature Podcast.