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Bird name:

Field Sparrow

Spizella pusillaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Sparrows (Emberizidae)
Codes: Common Name: FISP Scientific Name: SPIPUS ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179443
Field Sparrow Portrait_2
Family Buntings, Finches, Sparrows (Emberizidae)_blue
Species Spizella pusilla
Length5.75 Inches
Wingspan8.5 Inches

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow: Medium sparrow, rufous back with dark streaks, unstreaked, buff breast. Gray-brown rump. Gray head, rufous cap, and white eye-ring. Pink bill, legs and feet. Forages on ground or low shrubbery. Short flights, alternates rapid wing beats with brief periods of wings pulled to the sides.

● Song: "seea-seea-seea-wee-wee-wee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Field Sparrow: Eats seeds and insects; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Field Sparrow: Two to six brown marked, white to pale blue or green eggs are laid in a woven cup-shaped nest made of grass, lined with rootlets or fine grass, and set on or near the ground. Incubation ranges from 10 to 17 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Field Sparrow: Clay-colored Sparrow has a brown crown with central stripe, buff cheek patch, gray nape, and white underparts with a buff wash on breast.

Flight Pattern

Short flights wih rapid wing beats.
Field Sparrow Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Field Sparrow: Breeds from northern North Dakota, central Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and central New England south to Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, central Texas, and western Colorado. Spends winters south to the Gulf of Mexico and northeastern Mexico; prefers abandoned fields and pastures overgrown with weeds, scattered bushes, and small saplings.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common
MigrationNorthern birds migrate
Weight0.4 Ounces
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX