Swamp Sparrow

Not surprisingly, Swamp Sparrows are found in swamps and other grassy habitats near water, often clinging to reeds with their longish legs. The small songbird has a rufous cap and wings, a pale, mildly streaked breast and often a thin gray line in the middle of its forehead.

It sings its slow musical trill and chirp day or night, except in the late summer.

Swamp Sparrows are similar in general appearance to Chipping Sparrows but are bigger and bulkier and lack the gray buff breast of the Chipping Sparrow.

Swamp Sparrows feed on seeds and insects and forage in the shallows for aquatic life. They are winter visitors to the Gulf Coast before migrating in loose flocks to the far northeast, northern plains and Canada for the summer breeding season.