BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Spizella passerina
Chipping Sparrow
| Scientific Name: | Spizella passerina (Bechstein, 1798) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Chipping Sparrow | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-CHSP | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5B (Mar 2015) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Clutch size is 3-5 (usually 4). Incubation lasts 11-14 days. Individual females may produce 2 broods per year. Both parents tend altricial young, which leave nest in 9-12 days. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Breeding populations in Canada and the northern United States are long-distance migrants, winter south to southern Mexico. Migrations to northern part of nesting range occur in April-May (Terres 1980). Central American breeders are sedentary. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Habitat includes open woodlands, forest and woodland edges, edges of lakes and streams, grassy fields, parks, farm yards, orchards, and areas with similar vegetation structure. Nests usually are in trees or shrubs, usually within 1-6 meters of the ground but may be higher. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Granivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Diet includes seeds (e.g., grasses, clover, ragweed, knotweed), spiders, and insects (e.g., weevils, beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers). This sparrow forages mainly on the ground, but also in foliage. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 14/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Breeding range extends from Alaska east across central Canada to Newfoundland, and south through most of the United States and much of Mexico to northern Baja California, Nicaragua, the U.S. Gulf Coast and northern Florida (AOU 1998, Middleton 1998). Winter range extends from the southern United States southward to northern Nicaragua (AOU 1998, Middleton 1998). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Mar 20, 2009 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Bureau of Land Management. Life History Summaries. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT.-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, A.C. Stewart, and M.C.E. McNall. 2001. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 4, Passerines: Wood-Warblers through Old World Sparrows. UBC Press, in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv., and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch and Resour. Inventory Branch, and Royal B.C. Mus. 744pp. |
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Dodge, A. G., A. J. Fry, R. C. Blackwell, and R. M. Zink. 1995. Comparison of phylogenies derived from two molecular data sets in the avian genera PIPILO and SPIZELLA. Wilson Bulletin 107:641-654. |
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Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Zink, R. M., and D. L. Dittmann. 1993b. Population structure and gene flow in the chipping sparrow and a hypothesis for evolution in the genus SPIZELLA. Wilson Bull. 105:399-413. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2009. Species Summary: Spizella passerina. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 3, 2026).