Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 28
Song Sparrow
John James Audubon, The Birds of America, 1827–38
Bird

Song Sparrow

Melospiza melodia
New World Sparrows (Passerellidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A streaky brown sparrow with a long rounded tail and a central breast spot where the streaks converge; our Northwest birds are dark and rusty.
Male & female
Alike.
Voice
Three or four clear notes, then a buzzy trill and jumble, traditionally rendered as 'maids-maids-maids put on your tea-kettle-ettle-ettle'. Sings nearly all year.
Diet
Seeds and insects taken on the ground; berries in autumn.
Habitat
Brushy edges, streamsides, gardens; one of the most adaptable birds in North America.
Nesting
A cup on the ground or low in a shrub; 3–5 eggs, up to three broods.
Size
4½–6½ in long, about 1 oz: an empty Spam can, singing.

Song Sparrows learn their songs from the neighbours, so each creek has its own local dialect. A male knows about a dozen songs and shuffles them to keep the neighbours guessing.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 9 calls on 2 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

2300:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 1 calls09:00 — 3 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 1 calls12:00 — 1 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 1 calls17:00 — 2 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
36Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 3 callsOct 30 — 0 callsOct 31 — 6 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 29 9:49 am · 89% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The song sparrow is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable, and adaptable species.
From Wikipedia, "Song sparrow", CC BY-SA 4.0.