Red-Crowned Sparrows

     Four kinds of red-crowned sparrows live in the Mid-Atlantic States at some time of the year, including tree, chipping, field and swamp sparrows.  The first three species are closely related in the Spizella genus while swamp sparrows are related to song sparrows in the Melospiza genus.  But all of them are beautifully brown and streaked on top, which camouflages them in their different habitats, and all have plain gray underparts.  All mostly feed invertebrates to their young, but consume seeds through winters.  And all hatch young in different habitats from each other, eliminating competition for nesting space and food. 
     Tree sparrows nest across the Arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska and only winter in this area, and across much of the United States.  In winter they inhabit weedy fields and hedgerows between those fields where they eat weed and grass seeds and continually utter cheery notes- "teel-wit- teel-wit" that are delightful to hear.  Tree sparrows have a dark spot on their chests and their upper mandible is dark while the lower one is yellow.
     Chipping sparrows nest across most of North America, including in the Middle Atlantic States.  This species of small sparrow has a distinctive face with a red crown, a black streak from the beak, through each eye, to the back of the head on each side of the face.  And they have an obvious white stripe over each black line.
     Chippers commonly raise young on lawns, especially those planted with arborvitae trees because of their dense boughs of flattened needles that provide excellent protection for chippers and their young.  And chipping sparrows also rear offspring in other kinds of coniferous trees in a variety of habitats, natural and human-made.  Males sing a dry trill on one pitch and females add hair to their dainty, cup nurseries of fine grasses, wherever hair is available.
     Field sparrows are often heard, but seldom seen in the weedy, bushy fields they nest in across most of the eastern half of the United States.  Males sing a lovely trill that accelerates.  I remember when I was much younger hearing that beautiful trill coming from abandoned fields and hedgerows and thinking they were uttered by eastern bluebirds.  Only years later did I learn they were sung by male field sparrows.  This species has a pink beak that helps identify it.
     Swamp sparrows nest in wetlands across Canada and the northeastern states of the United States.  This species has rusty-red shoulder patches on its wings and males sing slow, musical trills.    
     These are all pretty birds, in camouflaged ways, with characteristics in common.  Though none of them are obvious to us, their beauties make them worth looking for.