General

Swamp Sparrow: Small sparrow with dark-streaked brown upperparts, gray upper breast, and pale gray, faintly streaked underparts. Head has rust-brown cap with paler median stripe and gray face. Wings are rust-brown with black-and-white streaks. Female and winter adult are duller. Juvenile is paler brown and more heavily streaked.

Range and Habitat

Swamp Sparrow: Breeds in Canada and the northern regions of eastern and central U.S., and spends winters in southeastern U.S. and Mexico. Preferred habitats include freshwater marshes, wetlands, bogs, and margins along streams and ponds; also found in salt marshes.

Breeding and Nesting

Swamp Sparrow: Three to six pale green eggs marked with red brown are laid in a bulky cup nest made of grass, lined with finer grass, and built in emergent vegetation over water. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Swamp Sparrow: Feeds on beetles, ants, grasshoppers, crickets, and seeds; forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

Sunflower Seed, Commercial Mixed Bird Seed

Vocalization

Swamp Sparrow: Song is a bold, slow melodious single note trill or a slurred, double-note "peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat." Call is a "zeee" or "chip."

Similar Species

Swamp Sparrow: Song and Lincoln's sparrows lack rust-brown wings and have extensive dark streaks across breasts.