Field Sparrow

A series of clear, sweet whistles that speed up and rise slightly in pitch, often likened to a ball bouncing and coming to rest.

Year-round across the mid-Atlantic, lower Great Lakes, and lower Midwest; summer resident into southern Canada; winters chiefly in the Southeast and south-central U.S.

Brushy or weedy fields, fencerows, regenerating clear-cuts, prairie edges, and abandoned agricultural land with scattered shrubs or saplings.

Begins singing and nesting early in spring, often on the ground before foliage leaf-out. Forms loose winter flocks that feed on open ground and roost communally in thick cover.

The Field Sparrow is a small, warm-colored New World sparrow best known for its sweet, accelerating song that resembles a ping-pong ball dropped on a table. Favoring brushy fields and overgrown pastures, this understated bird is a year-round resident across much of the eastern and central United States, retreating only slightly southward in winter. Though modest in appearance, its clean face, white eye-ring, and pink bill create a gentle, earnest look that endears it to many birders.