Chipping sparrows are small, attractive songbirds that breed across the U.S. and Canada, wherever open woodlands are found. Displaced from urban centers by house sparrows, they are still common in parks, suburbs and undisturbed habitat.
Here along the Front Range urban corridor, chipping sparrows are primarily migrants and most head into the foothills to nest; there they prefer open "ponderosa parklands" between 7000 and 8000 feet in elevation. Each spring, a few small flocks of these travelers turn up on are Littleton farm, stopping to rest and feed for a day or two; this week, large flocks (more than sixty individuals yesterday) have appeared and are hanging around to join the house finches and white-crowned sparrows that scour our weedy lawns.
I suspect their abundance on the Piedmont is a result of the rainy weather that has enveloped the Front Range for the past several days; having just arrived from Mexico, they may be waiting for less stormy conditions before heading into the mountains. From my perspective, both the rain and the chipping sparrows have been more than welcome.
See also: The Hair Bird
Here along the Front Range urban corridor, chipping sparrows are primarily migrants and most head into the foothills to nest; there they prefer open "ponderosa parklands" between 7000 and 8000 feet in elevation. Each spring, a few small flocks of these travelers turn up on are Littleton farm, stopping to rest and feed for a day or two; this week, large flocks (more than sixty individuals yesterday) have appeared and are hanging around to join the house finches and white-crowned sparrows that scour our weedy lawns.
I suspect their abundance on the Piedmont is a result of the rainy weather that has enveloped the Front Range for the past several days; having just arrived from Mexico, they may be waiting for less stormy conditions before heading into the mountains. From my perspective, both the rain and the chipping sparrows have been more than welcome.
See also: The Hair Bird
