Cooperative Living September 2020 - 37

FeatheredFriends | Story and artwork by Carl " Spike " Knuth, Contributing Columnist
Swamp Sparrow Sighting
You have to be alert if you hope to find
this shy forager hiding in the marshlands
was walking through a grassy point
of land at the Hog Island Wildlife
Management Area along the James
River in Virginia. The terrain was
sparsely scattered with pines, other trees
and shrubs. The edges consisted of a
variety of grasses and marsh vegetation
of numerous species. I was so
concentrated on getting out to the point
where a flock of waterfowl was gathered
that I didn't pay attention to the small
birds around me. I suddenly realized I
was being escorted by a group of brown
birds, uttering a buzzy " sweet-sweet "
call. They kept low in the vegetation,
moving ahead of me, pumping their
tails as they flew. It then dawned on me
that these were swamp sparrows.
THE SONG OF THE SPARROW
Swamp sparrows are one of the least
known of our common sparrows. They
are found in freshwater marshes or
marshy areas and swamps. They are not
often seen or identified because of the
habitat in which they live and their
tendency to be secretive or shy, as they
forage low in the tall marsh vegetation.
They also are identified by their rapid,
metallic, loud trill of " weet-weet-weet "
or call note of " chink. "
Like other sparrows, they are
basically brown, gray and chestnut
brown, with black, gray and white
markings. They are plain gray on their
underside with buffy flanks and brown
underparts streaked with black and a
dark reddish-brown rump. Among the
most distinctive field marks are a
chestnut crown, reddish-brown wings
and a light gray face. They measure
about 5 3/4 inches in length.
As mentioned, swamp sparrows are
birds of freshwater marshes, wet fields,
bogs or streams edged with various
emergent plants and grasses, as well
as trees like willow and alder. They
have been known to wade in the water
like shorebirds and have been observed
co-opliving.com
September 2020 | Cooperative Living | 35
I
sticking their heads underwater
to feed on aquatic
insects and larvae. They also
feed on plant seeds and fruits.
WHEN SPARROWS APPEAR
While normally sticking
low in the dense vegetation,
they will come out in the open
during nesting. Males sing from
the tops of marsh vegetation or
low-growing shrubs. The nests
of swamp sparrows are built low
or even on the ground along
the marshy edges. The nest
is located in a clump of
older vegetation, lowgrowing
shrubs or grassy
tussock. It is mainly
They have been
known to wade
in the water
like shorebirds.
constructed of grasses and
leaves, and lined with fine
grass. The cup-shaped
structure often has a side
entrance. The birds lay four
or five eggs, which are pale
blue or pale green or bluish white,
with markings of yellow-brown
or lilac.
Swamp sparrows breed over the
northern tier of states in eastern North
America as well as in Canada. Some
may migrate in winter to the Gulf
Coast, but being a hardy bird, many
will stay in Atlantic coastal regions
throughout the winter. 
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living September 2020
