Field Sparrow

Spizella pusilla
Sparrow family (Emberizidae)

Habitat:
Open meadows, abandoned fields

Description:
Small sparrow, 5” long.  Buffy to light gray breast, unstreaked;
bright pink bill; rufous crown; white eye ring; grayish face with rufous eyeline and rufous ear patch; brown tail and back.

Nesting:
Cup-like nest of grasses placed on or near the ground in dense clumps of grass.  Eggs are pale blue with dark markings.  Clutch size – 4 eggs.

Voice:
Song is a series of downslurred whistles that gradually increase in speed, like a bouncing ball.

Name Origin:
Spizella, Greek and Latin, spiza for “finch”; pusilla, Latin, pusillus, for “smallest”.

In the Nature Park:
Year-round resident.  Common in open meadows of the Nature Park.  Distinctive “bouncing ball” song of male is heard often during spring and summer.