If you’re here for a stroll in the Garden, particularly around the Farmhouse Meadow or near the Pavilion, and a tiny bird from somewhere unseen seems to be admonishing you with its long, trilling call, try not to take it personally. The Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina) are here and nesting, and it’s more likely they are telling off another Chipping Sparrow to build a nest someplace else.
The Chipping Sparrow’s call is a familiar sound come springtime. Its one-note ‘chip’ call helps the bird to keep in contact and make its location known to other sparrows.
If you’d like to try your eyes at spotting one, seek out woodland habitats with evergreen trees and shrubs. Look upwards about 5′ into the foliage, where you might spot the male keeping a lookout while the female does all the hard work, building and shaping a nest of grass and plant fibres. If a better spot comes up, the female may decide to abandon her work, and so construction will begin again. Remnants of unfinished homes are left behind as evidence that the Chipping Sparrow was here.
Mid-air, you’ll recognize this bird by its style of flight: darting between trees quickly and in straight lines.
When it comes time to eat, look down towards the ground in the understory and grasses, where the sparrow forages for seeds and insects.