Field Sparrow

Mnemonic description of song:

Notes are like a ping-pong ball dropped onto a table – increasing in rate and pitch

What is known about field sparrow song?

• Songs are learned (Morrison-Parker 1977 cited in Carey et al. 2020)
• One main song
• Countersing

How and when is song acquired?

• Subsong begins at 2 weeks of age, improves until fall (Liu and Kroodsma 1999)
• Learn two or more songs, modify song next spring, selecting one closest to neighbors (Liu and Kroodsma 1999, Nelson 1992b)
• Do not learn to sing when isolated
• When played recorded songs (theirs and others), learn own song
  (Morrison-Parker 1977 cited in Carey et al. 2020 , Nelson 1992b)

How can we facilitate learning?

• Raise with singing adults
• Play recordings of song

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Resources

Carey, M., D. E. Burhans, and D. A. Nelson (2020). Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.fiespa.01

Liu, W.-C. and D. E. Kroodsma. (1999). Song development by chipping sparrows and field sparrows. Animal Behaviour 57 (6):1275-1286.

Morrison-Parker, C. (1977). Experimental investigations of the vocal behavior of the Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla). Phd Thesis, Indiana Univ., Bloomington.

Nelson, D. A. (1992b). Song overproduction and selective attrition lead to song sharing in the Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 30:415-424.