Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XX · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
20. The chipping sparrow
Goal: Your child can tell the chipping sparrow by its rusty cap, black eye line and dry trill, and describe its hair-lined nest.
You'll need
- Binoculars (optional)
- An old chippy nest if you find one in fall or winter (look but leave it in place unless it is clearly abandoned and out of season)
- A ruler
- A recording of the chipping sparrow's trill
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought and method (begin with a chippy nest found in winter, then watch for the birds), then fifteen questions in two parts: The Nest (where, how supported, outside and lining of hair, size) and The Bird (how to tell it from the English sparrow, colors, beak, food, song, and a nesting diary). A poem about the field-sparrow follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Spring to fall, in yards, parks, orchards and pine trees; chippies like lawns with scattered trees and shrubs. They spend the winter in the South. Comstock begins in winter with an empty nest, when leaves are off the bushes, and then waits for the birds in spring.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The chipping sparrow is a cheerful and useful little neighbor. It builds a nest, lined with horsehair, in the shrubbery and vines about our homes and works hard in ridding our gardens of insect pests and seeds of weeds.
The nest
If you find an old nest in a bare shrub in winter, look at it where it is:
Where was this nest found? How high from the ground?
Of what material is the lining? Why is the bird that built this nest called the "hair bird"?
Measure the nest across and also its depth; do you think the bird that made it is as large as the English sparrow?
In the United States, collecting even old nests of most wild birds is technically against the law, so measure and draw it in place.
The bird
When chippies come back in spring:
How can you tell the chippy from the English sparrow?
Look for the rusty red cap, the white line over the eye, the black line through it, and the plain gray breast.
Food and habits
What is the food of the chippy? Why has it been called the doorstep-sparrow?
Does it run or hop when seeking food on the ground?
The song
Can you describe the chippy's song? How do you think it won the name of chipping sparrow?
Comstock's teacher's story says it sings "like a tuneful grasshopper": a dry, even trill.
Put it into words
Ask your child how to tell a chippy from a house sparrow. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw the chippy's head large: rusty cap, white eyebrow, black eye line. If you found a nest, draw it with its measurements.
Afterwards
If chippies nest near you, Comstock's question 15 is a nesting diary: who builds, how many eggs, when the young leave. Watch nests only from a distance, never touch or take a nest or eggs (that is against the law for most wild birds in the United States), and back away if the parents scold.
Tip
This is a small bird that lives close to people. A few minutes at a window each morning is often enough.