|American Tree Sparrow: Always at home in the snow.|
American Tree Sparrows belong to the genus Spizella, which makes them relatives of familiar birds like Chipping Sparrow and Field Sparrow. The main difference is that Tree Sparrows have their center of distribution at least a thousand miles farther north. Indeed, "Tree Sparrow" is a misnomer: many spend the summer far north of treeline, on the tundra, where the largest willows are only a couple of feet tall. In winter, flocks range through brushy fields, marshes, and open country. Trees aren't really important to them at any time of year.
|Range of the American Tree Sparrow. Red represents the summer range; dark blue is the main winter range, while pale blue shows where it is less numerous in winter. The gray area in between shows where the species passes through in migration.|
For years I lived in Arizona, where it was a major challenge to find American Tree Sparrows at all. If we searched hard enough in the northeastern part of the state in winter, we might eventually find a flock of three or four. Here in northern Ohio, though, we are blessed with an abundance of these beautiful sparrows in winter. On Christmas Bird Counts, we tally them by the hundreds. Flocks move ahead of us along the hedgerows, across the weedy fields, making a soft, musical tinkling chorus as they go.
|American Tree Sparrow: soft colors, musical callnotes, active flocks in the brushy fields of winter.|
|Whenever it snows, American Tree Sparrows move in from the surrounding countryside to feed on birdseed in our yard... at least until the snow melts.|
|American Tree Sparrow posing outside our window. Like all of our native North American sparrows, it shows beautiful feather patterns if we take the time to look closely.|