Chipping Sparrow
Spizella passerina
Year-round in CharlotteCommon
The take
The neat little rusty-capped sparrow trilling from the top of a lawn tree.
How to ID it
- Crisp bright rusty crown over a pale face with a black line through the eye
- Slender, fairly long-tailed sparrow with frosty, unstreaked underparts
- Feeds on the ground in loose groups and sings from the tops of small trees
Field marks at a glance
- Size
- small
- Head
- bright rusty crown
- Call
- long dry mechanical trill
Where & when
Year-round in Charlotte
Learn more
Sources
- Facts — ebird.org, verified August 2026
- Reference — allaboutbirds.org