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Swamp Sparrows
(Melospiza georgiana)
Banded April 22, 1998 - Newport, Indiana
General Information
The Swamp Sparrow is a bird of freshwater marshes, bogs and margins along streams and
ponds, and in some areas may also be found in salt marshes. Three subspecies are
recognized in North America. They breed in Canada and the northern regions of eastern and
central North America, and winter in southeastern North America and Mexico. Foods consist
of beetles, ants, grasshoppers, crickets, and the seeds of sedges, grasses and other
weeds.
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The male has a black forehead, rusty crown,
rusty brown wings, and grayish markings on the face. |
Figure 1 - Male Swamp Sparrow
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Figure 2 - Swamp Sparrow Habitat
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Freshwater marshes are the preferred habitat
of the Swamp Sparrow. They share these marshes with species such as Red-winged Blackbirds,
Soras, Virginia Rails, Song Sparrows, American Goldfinches, Bell's Vireos Willow
Flycatchers and others.
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The forehead is black, and the crown is
rusty. Supercilium, ear coverts, nape, and lores are grayish. The chin and throat are
whitish set off from the face by a thin black malar stripe. In adults, the upper mandible
is dark and the lower mandible shows some yellow.
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Figure 3 - Swamp Sparrow - Adult Male
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Figure 4 - Swamp Sparrow - Female
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Adult females are similar to the male, but
with less red in the crown. |
The wing coverts are attractively patterned
with rusty, black and white. |
Figure 5 - Swamp Sparrow Coverts
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Figure 6 - Primary Flight Feathers
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Flight feathers are brownish. The relative
lengths of the outer 4 primary flight feathers is an important characteristic to separate
juveniles of this species from Lincoln's and Song Sparrows (Pyle 1997). |
Adult tail feathers brownish and are rounded.
Juvenile tail feathers are more pointed. |
Figure 7 - Swamp Sparrow Tail Feathers
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Figure 8 - Swamp Sparrow - Male
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Male Swamp Sparrow. |
Nesting Behavior
The female builds a bulky cup nest of grasses in emergent vegetation over water. The
nest is placed a foot or more above the ground. The female incubates 4 to 5 eggs for about
two weeks. Young are tended by both parents, and leave the nest in 10 to 12 days. Two
broods may be raised in a breeding season.
Banding Recoveries
The Bird Banding Lab web site reports that between 1955 to 1997, a total of 133,973 Swamp Sparrows were banded. Of these, only 214
have been recovered, a recovery rate of 0.16%. Banding studies show that Swamp Sparrows
are short distance migrants, and may live up to 6 years in the wild. If you should recover
a banded bird, report the band number to the Bird Banding Lab by calling 1-800-327-BAND.
Conservation
Swamp Sparrows were once abundant in suitable habitat, but the whole scale regional
drainage of wetlands have eliminated much of their favored habitat and severely impacted
their populations. Where suitable habitat is provided, however, Swamp Sparrows do well,
and populations can recover rapidly. Nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds is
apparently not a significant problem for this species since cowbirds tend to avoid nests
located in marshes.
Literature Cited
Pyle, P. 1997. Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part 1. Slate Creek Press,
Bolinas, CA. 732 Pp.
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