All about song sparrow’s songs 

George Walter

Jill Severn | The JOLT News

Occasionally someone will ask me how I come up with something new to write about each week. I usually answer vaguely with a version of “I don’t know, really. Something just pops up and off I go.”  

Here’s what popped up this week.  

Do you remember last Sunday? There was steady rain all day, with period of heavy rain but no pauses, no let up. I spent the day inside, feeling pleased that my pets were indoor cats as, looking out, I saw my neighbors walking their dog, dressed in serious rain gear.  

And all day, just outside my house, my local song sparrow was singing, using one version or another of his song to make his territorial claim. The thought hit me that, instead of dismissing these birds as common brown birds of the underbrush, I should be admiring and appreciating them as successful coresidents of my neighborhood and world. 

First, some basic identification features: Song sparrows are brown and gray striped, with a center breast spot, and are 5-6” in length. Both sexes look alike in this species. They are really quite attractive (see Liam’s photos) but are often difficult to view because they are so active, often flitting in and out of bushes.  

Song sparrows, and all sparrows, are seed eaters who have bills suitable for cracking seeds to eat the contents. They will visit seed feeders, but even at feeders, they prefer to dash out from cover, grab seed, and then return to safety.  

Their species range is all of North America, and song sparrows are one of the most common bird species. They occupy a variety of habitats. Here in Thurston County, we tend to see and hear them at forest edges and in brushy and overgrown areas (like my yard). They also like the edges along wetlands and streams. 

Within this wide range there are at least 24 subspecies of song sparrows, and many color patterns. Our Pacific Northwest birds are dark brown, whereas those in dry or desert places are much lighter colored, almost sandy.

However, genetic studies have demonstrated a substantial uniformity among subspecies, suggesting that interbreeding occurs often enough to maintain a single genetic species across the continent.  

My appreciation of these birds’ singing is nothing new. In fact, their scientific name, Melospiza melodia, given to them in 1810, would be fairly translated as singing sparrow with a beautiful song.

The song that I am listening to as I write this is just one of a wide variety that this species sings. It starts with a few quick notes that I hear as “sweet, sweet,” then adds a few additional notes before finishing with a short trill. The song lasts two to four seconds and sometimes the trill is in the middle. 

These songs vary widely in different parts of the species range and sometimes will vary with individual males in the same place. Also confusing, at the start of the breeding season the male is just getting “warmed up” and may sing only part of his song, say for example only the final three-note trill.  

Song sparrows, like most songbirds, are stimulated by increasing day length to come into “breeding fitness” — a birder term — and start singing. But other factors are important as well, including temperature and vegetation changes.  

Ornithological studies done here in Washington demonstrated that our Thurston County song sparrows come into breeding fitness some two months before song sparrows in the nearby mountains. The day length changes were the same, but other factors also were involved in determining breeding conditioning and the start of singing.  

As with many species, song sparrows are not just singing for joy — they are establishing a territory in the expectation of attracting a female for successful breeding.

But what is it about one male’s song that attracts a female? They all sound more or less similar to our ears but, one assumes, not to her ear; she must have some criteria for making her choice. 

Not surprisingly, ornithologists have studied this as well. Creating a controlled situation, they have studied both the male’s singing abilities and female’s reactions over successive generations and breeding years.

It turns out that females prefer males that have learned to sing well the songs “of their fathers,” the songs that were being sung as they were being raised.  

Put into other terms, males who are good learners of their father’s songs are preferred by females. It’s no wonder that the songs of these sparrows, and likely other species as well, persist over generations if not centuries. The males that can’t learn the songs correctly are simply not successful in breeding. 

Song sparrows build nests on or near the ground, and successfully nest in a wide variety of places. They are not afraid of human habitations and may nest close to houses and in gardens; last year I had a nest at the base of an old fence post.

If you hear song sparrows singing near your home, it’s possible that these common avian neighbors will be using a small part of your yard as their nesting grounds.  So if you’re hearing sparrow song, be careful where you step in the next several months.  

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 45+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com 

Photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, a 17-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.