If you live in Wisconsin and you spot an unassuming, tiny bird hopping around your garden almost all year round, then chances are it is a sparrow species.
From city parks to rural fields, sparrows are like your local heroes that can be found anywhere and everywhere.
As you get to learn more about their strong resilience, understanding how they thrive in these different habitats will fascinate you beyond belief.
Learning to identify the differences in species is like being an expert bird detective, spotting the secret identities of your local feathered neighbors.
These year-round companions will improve your day with cheerful behavior and bring joy with their sweet, melodious songs. Their songs are like tuning in to a natural radio station.
You will be opening a door to the diversity of the avian world that’s right in your own backyard.
So, happy sparrow-watching, bird lovers of Wisconsin!
Contents
- 21 Common Sparrow Species In Wisconsin
- House Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Henslow’s Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- American Tree Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Swamp Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Clay-colored Sparrow
- Lark Sparrow
- Grasshopper Sparrow
- Field Sparrow
- Eastern Towhee
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- LeConte’s Sparrow
- Nelson’s Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- FAQ
- Thoughts
21 Common Sparrow Species In Wisconsin
There are almost 20 or more sparrow species all around Wisconsin. However, not all of them are available year-round in the area.
Among them, we have listed the Sparrows in Wisconsin that you will spot all year round, along with the accidental sightings.
So, let’s get to know about them.
House Sparrow
Source: @maxpickeringphotography
- Scientific Name: Passer domesticus
- Status: Least Concern
The House Sparrow is a gregarious bird that forms flocks while foraging as well as roosts communally, even engaging in “social singing.”
Key Identification
- Size: 14 to 18 cm (5.5 to 7.1 in)
- Weight: 24 to 39.5 g (0.85 to 1.39 oz)
- Wingspan: 19 to 25 cm (7.5 to 9.8 in)
This species has a small body with a large, rounded head and stout, conical bill. Moreover, it shows strong sexual dimorphism.
Adult Color
The adult males have a grey crown, unlike the females, and have vivid white cheeks. They have rufous necks, black bibs, and heavily streaked bodies.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have pale brown upperparts and heads with deep brown underparts.
Where To Spot
The House Sparrow is one of the most widespread species in the world, with a range that extends to almost all the continents around the world.
Habitat
It can live in almost all kinds of habitats, even around human habitations and cultivations comfortably, excluding dense forests and tundra.
Diet
This species is a highly adaptable and opportunistic feeder and can feed on almost any available food.
Chipping Sparrow
Source: @rpmcintosh
- Scientific Name: Spizella passerina
- Status: Least Concern
The Chipping Sparrow constructs extremely lightweight and fragile nests with little insulation where lights easily pass through.
Key Identification
- Size: 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in)
- Weight: 11 to 17 g (0.4 to 0.6 oz)
- Wingspan: 21 cm (8.3 in)
This species is a slender-bodied and long-tailed bird with little to no sexual dimorphism.
Adult Color
The upper parts of the adults have a rustic orange color, and the underparts are ashy grey. During the breeding season, they have a light red cap, and in the non-breeding season, they have a brownish cap with inconspicuous streaks.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have notable streak marks on their underparts and a dark eye-line with a brownish cap.
Where To Spot
This species is a partial migrant and commonly inhabits almost all across its North American range.
Habitat
Their preferred breeding habitat is coniferous forests, grassy, open woodland clearings, shrubby grass fields, woodland, farmland, parks, and gardens.
Diet
Predominantly depending on seeds, the Chipping Sparrow often adds insects and spiders to their diet during the breeding season.
Henslow’s Sparrow
Source: @thecraftypiper
- Scientific Name: Centronyx henslowii
- Status: Least Concern
The Henslow’s Sparrow has one of the shortest and sweetest tunes that can be rendered as “tze-lick” sound.
Key Identification
- Size: 11 to 13 cm (4.3 to 5.1 in)
- Weight: 11 to 14 g (0.4 to 0.5 oz)
- Wingspan: 16 to 20 cm (6.3 to 7.9 in)
This small-sized species has a large head, slender body, and a short forked tail with a large bill.
Adult Color
Both the upperparts and the underparts of the adults have a brown to light brown shade with dark streaks. They have white bellies and throats with olive faces and necks. Their wings are a contrasting rusty-brown color.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have almost similar coloration except for their buffish belly and being a little more plumpier.
Where To Spot
The distribution of this species is in southern Canada, the northeastern United States, and the midwestern United States.
Habitat
It resides in weedy hayfields or pastures, shrubby fields, and wet meadows. During winter, it can even be found near salt marshes.
Diet
The Henslow’s Sparrow primarily favors berries, seeds, and insects, such as grasshoppers and beetles, as its diet.
White-crowned Sparrow
Source: @baa_original
- Scientific Name: Zonotrichia leucophrys
- Status: Least Concern
One of the most fascinating aspects about the White-crowned Sparrow that can make sparrow enthusiasts in Wisconsin even more interested is their habit of unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.
Key Identification
- Size: 15 to 16 cm (5.9 to 6.3 in)
- Weight: 25 to 28 g (0.9 to 1.0 oz)
- Wingspan: 21 to 24 cm (8.3 to 9.4 in)
Compared to other sparrow species, the White-crowned Sparrow is a large one with a relatively small bill and long tail.
Adult Color
The adults have distinctive black and white-streaked heads and brown-striped upperparts with a grey face. The bills are uniquely bright pink or yellow.
Juvenile Color
Unlike adults, the juveniles have brown streaked heads.
Where To Spot
The White-crowned Sparrow is a resident of North America and a year-round visitor of Wisconsin.
Habitat
It prefers brushy areas in the taiga and tundra or low vegetation as its breeding habitat.
Diet
The majority of its diet consists of seeds and occasionally plant parts and insects.
Vesper Sparrow
Source: @frog_guy2112
- Scientific Name: Pooecetes gramineus
- Status: Least Concern
The Vesper Sparrows, the only member of the Pooecetes genus, have a sweet tinkling song that they sing from day to evening.
Key Identification
- Size: 13 to 16 cm (5.1 to 6.3 in)
- Weight: 20 to 28 g (0.7 to 1.0 oz)
- Wingspan: 24 cm (9.4 in)
The Lark Sparrows have an adorably plumpy-rounded body and a small, conical bill with a short, notched tail.
Adult Color
The colors that make them distinctive are the small white eye ring, white tail feathers that become visible during flight, and a chestnut-colored shoulder patch. They have heavy streaks all over their brown body that gets lighter on the bottom part.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles also have a chunky-looking body but with dark streaks all over their body.
Where To Spot
The Vesper Sparrows inhabit all over Canada and most of the Northern United States.
Habitat
The meaning of their genus name, “Pooecetes,” is a ground dweller. So, you are likely to find them around lower elevations of grassy areas such as dry grasslands, sagebrush, and fields.
Diet
It prefers foraging on the ground while feeding on insects and seeds.
Song Sparrow
Source: @alexlebird
- Scientific Name: Melospiza melodia
- Status: Least Concern
The male Song Sparrows use their sweet, melodious songs to attract the females and defend their territories.
Key Identification
- Size: 11 to 18 cm (4.3 to 7.1 in)
- Weight: 11.9 to 53 g (0.42 to 1.87 oz)
- Wingspan: 18 to 25.4 cm (7.1 to 10.0 in)
It’s a medium-sized species with a short and stout bill and long tail.
Adult Color
The upper parts of the adults have a dark-streaked brown color and white below. They have brown tails and caps with a grey face and brown streaks around each eye.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have almost identical coloration with shorter wings and tails.
Where To Spot
The Song Sparrows are one of the most abundant and frequently spotted species in North America.
Habitat
It prefers inhabiting brushland, marshes, and even suburbs, agricultural fields, and roadsides.
Diet
The Song Sparrows primarily feed on insects and seeds. From time to time, it even consumes small crustaceans.
White-throated Sparrow
Source: @krista_c_photography
- Scientific Name: Zonotrichia albicollis
- Status: Least Concern
The White-throated Sparrow, a large-bodied passerine species, prefers nesting on the ground, concealed well under shrubs or lower parts of trees in deciduous or mixed forest regions.
Key Identification
- Size: 15 to 19 cm (5.9 to 7.5 in)
- Weight: 22 to 32 g (0.78 to 1.13 oz)
- Wingspan: 23 cm (9.1 in)
One of the most interesting facts about the White-throated Sparrow is that it comes in two color forms- white-crowned and tan-crowned.
Adult Color
The white-striped adult form has a white central stripe and supercilium with a black crown.
The tan form, on the other hand, has a tan central stripe and supercilium with a dark brown crown.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have less prominent streaks on their breasts with brown and black-streaked heads.
Where To Spot
It primarily breeds across Canada. However, you can easily spot this Sparrow in Wisconsin during winter. During this time of the year, it inhabits the Southern and Eastern United States.
Habitat
The White-throated Sparrow lives near woods, at forest edges, in the regrowth that follows logging, and in crops near treelines, thickets, overgrown fields, parks, and woodsy suburbs.
Diet
It feeds on different variations of seeds, insects, and berries and pays occasional visits to bird feeders.
American Tree Sparrow
Source: @kentucky_birder
- Scientific Name: Spizelloides arborea
- Status: Least Concern
The American Tree Sparrow, also known as the Winter Sparrow, can not live a full day without food and must have almost half of its stomach filled.
Key Identification
- Size: 14 cm (5.5 in)
- Weight: 13 to 28 g (0.5 to 1.0 oz)
- Wingspan: 24 cm (9.4 in)
This small, round-headed, and adorably plumpy species seems similar to that of the Chipping Sparrow.
Adult Color
The adults have a rusty back, cap, and a line through their eyes. The underparts and faces are grey. They have light brown flanks and white bars on their brown wings.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have a relatively slender body shape with dark black streaks on most parts of their brown body.
Where To Spot
The main distribution of this species, the American Tree Sparrow, is in Alaska and Northern Canada, and the occasional migratory countries are Southern Canada and the United States.
Habitat
It inhabits tundra and boreal forests while nesting on the ground.
Diet
Foraging on the ground, it feeds on seeds, insects, and sometimes berries.
Dark-eyed Junco
Source: @jennycccarter
- Scientific Name: Junco hyemalis
- Status: Least Concern
The Dark-eyed Junco, a small snowbird, creates its nest well-hidden in a cup-shaped depression on the ground.
Key Identification
- Size: 13 to 17.5 cm (5.1 to 6.9 in)
- Weight: 18 to 30 g (0.63 to 1.06 oz)
- Wingspan: 18 to 25 cm (7.1 to 9.8 in)
This round-headed species has a short and stout bill with a long tail.
Adult Color
The adults have diverse coloration in their plumage details but usually have a bluish-grey head and similar shaded necks and breasts with a whitish belly. They have grey or brown backs and wings with a dull pinkish bill.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have pale striped patterns on their underparts and look similar to Vesper Sparrows.
Where To Spot
The Dark-eyed Junco has a vast range all across North America.
Habitat
It prefers coniferous, mixed forested areas in its range as a breeding habitat.
Diet
Preferring to forage on the ground, it mainly feeds on seeds. However, it may consume insects from time to time.
Swamp Sparrow
Source: @jeffgresko
- Scientific Name: Melospiza georgiana
- Status: Least Concern
One of the most intriguing aspects of a Swamp Sparrow’s appearance is that it has relatively longer legs than the rest of the members of its genus, which helps it to forage in the water.
Key Identification
- Size: 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in)
- Weight: 15 to 23 g (0.5 to 0.8 oz)
- Wingspan: 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in)
This mid-sized species has a compact, chubby body with a relatively slender and long tail. They have short, conical, and shiny bills.
Adult Color
The adults have heavily streaked rusty and buffish black upper parts and caps with an inconspicuous greyish breast with similar toned belly and throat. They have intensely rusty wings.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles’ bodies have a buffish-brown color instead of grey and a pair of brown crown stripes.
Where To Spot
The distribution of the Swamp Sparrow is in the Northern United States and Canada.
Habitat
It inhabits wetlands, marshes, and other densely covered areas near shallow water as its breeding habitat.
Diet
During the breeding season, it mainly feeds on arthropods. It consumes fruits and seeds in winter.
Savannah Sparrow
Source: @hlb54
- Scientific Name: Passerculus sandwichensis
- Status: Least Concern
The Savannah Sparrow is the only widely accepted member of the genus Passerculus that has almost seventeen subspecies.
Key Identification
- Size: 11 to 17 cm (4.3 to 6.7 in)
- Weight: 15 to 29 g (0.53 to 1.02 oz)
- Wingspan: 18 to 25 cm (7.1 to 9.8 in)
This mid-sized, regular sparro-like species has a plumpy body and a relatively short head and tail.
Adult Color
The adults have a heavily dark-streaked brown back and whitish below. Their breasts and flanks have brown or darkish streaks and yellow patches near the beak with white crowns and throat.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles look almost identical but comparatively smaller and slender, with less prominent yellow patches on the face.
Where To Spot
This species mainly breeds in Alaska, Canada, northern, central, and Pacific coastal United States, Mexico, and Guatemala.
Habitat
It prefers open or semi-open areas that have low vegetation, such as low bushes, tundra, grassland, marsh, and farmland.
Diet
It mainly forages on seeds, except for the breeding season. During this period, in addition to the seeds, it consumes insects.
Clay-colored Sparrow
Source: @natureguy83
- Scientific Name: Spizella pallida
- Status: Least Concern
What makes the Clay-colored Sparrow chicks’ behavior interesting is its tendency to leave the nest before it learns how to fly.
Key Identification
- Size: 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 6 in)
- Weight: 12 g (0.42 oz)
- Wingspan: 19 cm (7.5 in)
The Clay-colored Sparrows are slender-bodied with fairly small bills and long tails.
Adult Color
The adults have light brown on their upper section and pale shades on the below with darkly streaked backs. They have a dark brown crown with a dull stripe on it.
Juvenile Color
The immature Clay-colored Sparrows are a dull, plumpy version of the adults with buffy eyebrows and pale mustache with grey collar.
Where To Spot
You can easily spot this species across Central Canada and Central Northern America, which makes it one of the most common Sparrows in Wisconsin.
Habitat
The breeding habitat of this species is near shrubby open areas and jack pine woods.
Diet
The Clay-colored Sparrows prefer foraging on the ground and feed on seeds and insects.
Lark Sparrow
Source: @chirpchicksteph
- Scientific Name: Chondestes grammacus
- Status: Least Concern
The Lark Sparrow, the only member of the Chondestes genus, is popular for its elaborate courtship displays that can last up to five minutes.
Key Identification
- Size: 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in)
- Weight: 24 to 33 g (0.8 to 1.2 oz)
- Wingspan: 28 cm (11.0 in)
This large, distinctive species has a relatively long, rounded tail and head with a thin neck.
Adult Color
Similar to most other adult Sparrows, they have dark streaks on their brown back and white underparts with a dark spot at the center. They have white eyebrows and a striped crown.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have the dull-colored version of the adults with streaks on the below.
Where To Spot
The Lark Sparrow is common in Southern Canada, the United States, and Northern Mexico.
Habitat
It prefers foraging and hovering around grasslands, roadsides, farmlands, pastures, and open countrysides across its region.
Diet
Seeds are its primary dietary preference. In addition, it feeds on insects during the breeding season.
Grasshopper Sparrow
Source: @dougrodda
- Scientific Name: Ammodramus savannarum
- Status: Least Concern
What makes the Grasshopper Sparrow unique is its ability to sing two distinctive types of songs, unlike most other members of the New World Sparrows.
Key Identification
- Size: 10 to 14 cm (3.9 to 5.5 in)
- Weight: 13.8 to 28.4 g (0.49 to 1.00 oz)
- Wingspan: 17.5 cm (6.9 in)
The Grasshopper Sparrows are small-sized species with large and flat crowns, eye-catching bills, and short tails.
Adult Color
The upper area of the body has patterns in brown, grey, black, and white color with light brown chest and white belly. They have bright yellow on the underwing and above the lores.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles possess brown, black, and buff streaks on their breast and back. They also have similar orangish yellow marks in front of their eyes.
Where To Spot
The Grasshopper Sparrow inhabits all across southern Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America, and the Caribbean.
Habitat
Its preferred habitat is open fields, prairie grasslands, and almost all wetlands while avoiding woody vegetation.
Diet
The Grasshopper Sparrow feeds on insects, especially grasshoppers, spiders, and seeds.
Field Sparrow
Source: @steam02
- Scientific Name: Spizella pusilla
- Status: Least Concern
The Field Sparrows tend to build new nests every time, which get built higher off the ground with each seasonal progression.
Key Identification
- Size: 13 to 15 cm (8 in)
- Weight: 12.5 g (0.44 oz)
- Wingspan: 20 cm (8 in)
This species is small-sized with a slender body and a mid-sized forked tail with a short, conical bill.
Adult Color
The upper part of the adults is brown with bright rusty crowns, grey faces, and white eye rings with pinkish bills. Their breasts and wing bars are whitish.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles don’t have distinguishable crowns and eyelids like the adults. Apart from this, they both appear almost identical.
Where To Spot
The Field Sparrow resides in eastern Canada and the eastern United States, and some of them migrate toward the southern United States and Mexico during fall.
Habitat
Typically, it prefers inhabiting a bushy country with shrubs and grassland.
Diet
You can spot it foraging on the ground or in areas with low vegetation, consuming different types of seeds and insects.
Eastern Towhee
Source: @audubonmidatl
- Scientific Name: Pipilo erythrophthalmus
- Status: Least Concern
The Eastern Towhee has an amusing call transcribed as short, “drink your teeeeea,” which makes it popular among both bird enthusiasts and tea enthusiasts.
Key Identification
- Size: 17.3 to 23 cm (6.8 to 9.1 in)
- Weight: 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in)
- Wingspan: 32 to 53 g (1.1 to 1.9 oz)
This large, striking Sparrow species has a rounded body and tail with a noticeably thick bill.
Adult Color
The adults have rufous sides, white bellies, and dark-colored tails lined with white color.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have almost identical coloration with brown color all over their body.
Where To Spot
The Eastern Towhee lives all across Eastern North America.
Habitat
Its preferred habitat is vegetation of disturbed areas, such as old-field successional vegetation and shrubby areas of power line right-of-ways.
Diet
The Eastern Towhee mainly forages on diverse types of plant and animal matter, including seeds and fruits, several invertebrates, and occasionally small amphibians, snakes, and lizards.
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Source: @glen.noyer
- Scientific Name: Melospiza lincolnii
- Status: Least Concern
The Lincoln’s Sparrow lives to stay hidden but can be easily spotted with its harmonious, wren-like songs.
Key Identification
- Size: 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in)
- Weight: 17 to 19 g (0.6 to 0.7 oz)
- Wingspan: 19 to 22 cm (7.5 to 8.7 in)
This mid-sized, petite Sparrow species has a rounded belly and a crest-looking rounded head. Its tail is relatively short, and the bill seems comparatively thin.
Adult Color
The olive-hued brown upper area of the adult’s body has dark streaks with light brown below. The belly and throat are white with a grey-striped brown cap.
Juvenile Color
Except for the unicolored crowns in Swamp Sparrows, the juvenile Lincoln’s Sparrow appears identical to the immature Swamp Sparrows.
Where To Spot
The Lincoln’s Sparrow has a wide distribution across Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern and western United States.
Habitat
As a secretive species, it prefers living in the subalpine, montane zones, brushy habitats, and near wetlands of the boreal regions, wet thickets, shrubby bogs, moss-dominated habitats, dense shrub cover, mixed deciduous groves, mixed shrub-willows, and black spruce-tamarack bogs at lower elevations.
Diet
During winter, it feeds on small seeds of weeds and grasses, terrestrial vertebrates. However, during the breeding season, it consumes insect larvae, ants, spiders, beetles, flies, and many other arthropods.
Fox Sparrow
Source: @wwarephoto
- Scientific Name: Passerella iliaca
- Status: Least Concern
The Fox Sparrows typically lay two to five eggs that are pale green to greenish-white in color. Moreover, they have reddish-brown spots all over them.
Key Identification
- Size: 15 to 19 cm (5.9 to 7.5 in)
- Weight: 26 to 44 g (0.9 to 1.6 oz)
- Wingspan: 26.7 to 29 cm (10.5 to 11.4 in)
The adult Fox Sparrows are one of the largest sparrows who have a rounded body and mid-length tail.
Adult Color
The adults exhibit a diverse range of colors depending on which region they inhabit. Generally, they have spots all over their rust-brown body.
Juvenile Color
The plumage varies in the juveniles as well. However, in general, they have heavily streaked, ashy bodies with brownish-ash-colored wings and tails.
Where To Spot
The breeding habitat of this species is all across northern Canada and western North America, from Alaska to California.
Habitat
It prefers inhabiting almost all kinds of wooded areas, including coniferous forests, dense mountain scrub, scrubby habitats, and forests.
Diet
The Fox Sparrow mainly eats seeds, insects, and occasionally berries and crustaceans.
LeConte’s Sparrow
Source: @sparrow_appreciation_society
- Scientific Name: Ammospiza leconteii
- Status: Least Concern
LeConte’s Sparrow is one of the most secretive sparrows that lives its life inconspicuously under the cover of tall grasses.
Key Identification
- Size: 12 cm (4.7 in)
- Weight: 12 to 16 g (0.4 to 0.6 oz)
- Wingspan: 18 cm (7.1 in)
The adults have a plumpy body and a relatively large, flat head with a short, pointed tail and rounded wings.
Adult Color
The bill and cheeks of the adults are grey. They have brown streaked backs with a yellowish-orange face and off-white belly. The distinctive part of their dark brown crown is the white central stripe.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have similar coloration on their body but with fuzzy-textured plumage.
Where To Spot
This species only has a distribution in the selected areas across Canada, Southern Manitoba, central Ontario, Quebec, northern Michigan, Montana, and Minnesota. During winter, it prefers the southeastern United States.
Habitat
The LeConte’s Sparrow prefers well-concealed grassy areas, such as meadows, fields, crop stubble, prairie, and occasionally fens, lake-shores within the boreal forest.
Diet
The dietary preference depends on the seasonal changes. In summer, it feeds on various types of insects, including weevils, leafhoppers, leaf beetles, stinkbugs, etc. However, during winter, it prefers feeding on seeds of grasses and weeds such as northern dropseed, Indian grass, yellow foxtail, panic grass, etc.
Nelson’s Sparrow
Source: @thefeatherchannel
- Scientific Name: Ammospiza nelsoni
- Status: Least Concern
One of the most intriguing aspects of Nelson’s Sparrow is its vocalization, which sounds similar to a drop of water hitting the surface of a hit fry pan.
Key Identification
- Size: 11 to 13 cm (4.3 to 5.1 in)
- Weight: 17 to 21 g (0.6 to 0.7 oz)
- Wingspan: 16.5 to 20 cm (6.5 to 7.9 in)
This mid-sized Sparrow species has a chunky body with a short, pointy tail and a short, conical bill.
Adult Color
The upper parts of the adults are brownish, and the breast part is cream-colored with dull streaking. The belly and throat are white, and the face is orange, while the cheeks are grey.
Juvenile Color
The plumage color of the juveniles varies depending on their regions. However, mostly, they exhibit a duller version of the adults’ body colors.
Where To Spot
This species is the most common near the Atlantic coast of Canada and Maine, central Canada, and the north-central United States.
Habitat
It prefers freshwater wetlands in the taiga and prairie, especially marshes with reeds as its habitat.
Diet
Predominantly foraging on the marsh or the ground, it consumes insects, aquatic invertebrates, and seeds.
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Source: @figureoutthesea
- Scientific Name: Zonotrichia atricapilla
- Status: Least Concern
The Golden-crowned Sparrow favors spending time with conspecifics in flocks during winter and occasionally with sparrow species.
Key Identification
- Size: 15 to 18 cm (6 to 7 in)
- Weight: 19.0 to 35.4 g (0.67 to 1.25 oz)
- Wingspan: 24.75 cm (9.74 in)
This species is relatively large-bodied with a relatively small head and long, square-tipped tail.
Adult Color
Unlike its name, the Golden-crowned Sparrow has a coal-black crown and bright yellow forehead. The upper parts are greyish brown with bold brownish-black patterns on the back. The underpart is also grey, but the bill is dark. The legs and iris are brown.
Juvenile Color
The juveniles have a yellow color on the lower part of the beak and ashy bodies with dark brown streaked wings.
Where To Spot
This species has a distribution near the western edge of North America. But, the Golden-crowned Sparrow in Wisconsin is almost rare and has only accidental sightings.
Habitat
It resides in brushy areas and dense shrubs during winter. Usually, it lives in forest edges, shrubs, chaparral, etc.
Diet
The Golden-crowned Sparrow feeds on plant materials, such as seeds, berries, flowers, buds, and occasionally crawling insects.
FAQ
If you have any more inquiries, then you can check out this section. This section will cover the answers to the frequently asked questions.
Let’s take a look at these.
Q: What is the most common bird in Wisconsin?
Ans: One of the most common birds in Wisconsin is the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). It’s a North American songbird species that ranges from the Northern United States to Southern Canada and up to Alaska and the Yukon.
Q: Do Wisconsin sparrows migrate?
Ans: Yes, they do. One of the most common migrant sparrows in Wisconsin is the white-crowned sparrow. It typically moves throughout Southern Wisconsin during early spring and late fall.
Q: Where are sparrows most common?
Ans: Sparrows are one of the most common bird species in the world. This species can be spotted throughout Northern Africa, Europe, the Americas, and much of Asia. They are even more abundant than humans.
Thoughts
Wisconsin is full of diversity. All the bird species, from Woodpeckers to Sparrows, are appreciated by the locals of the state.
Sparrows in Wisconsin especially help you get a genuine and enlightening experience of bird-watching.
They are the perfect friendly, feathered buddies that will offer a dose of everyday wonder no matter where you are in Wisconsin.
The Sparrows might seem similar at first glance, but the bustling community of this species has different stories to tell.
Their dissimilarities in appearance can turn into a fun little game of “spot the difference.”
Their year-round free entertainment will turn your daily commute a bit more interesting when you have to rush to work.
So, whether you are a casual bird-watcher or a dedicated bird enthusiast, sparrows in Wisconsin are sure to bring a touch of everyday magic to your life.
