Song Sparrows are medium-sized and fairly bulky with a rounded head. Their bill is short and stout, tail long and rounded, and wings broad. Song Sparrows are streaky and brown, with thick streaks on a white chest and flanks. On a closer look, the head is a mix of warm red-brown and slaty-gray. However, these shades as well as the amount of streaking, vary extensively across North America.

References cited in Species Profile

• Aldrich, J. W. 1984. Ecogeographical variation in size and proportions of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Ornithol. Monog. 35:1-134.
• Arcese, Peter, Mark K. Sogge, Amy B. Marr and Michael A. Patten. 2002. Song Sparrow (Melospizamelodia), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/704
• Beal, F. E. L. 1910. Birds of California in relation to the fruit industry, part 2. U.S. Dept. Agri. Biol. Surv. Bull. 34.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Song Sparrow. All About Birds. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_Sparrow/id
• Davis, A. and P. Arcese. 1999. An examination of migration in Song Sparrow using banding recovery data. N. Am. Bird-bander 24:124-128.
• Gutenspergen, G. R., and Nordby, J. C. 2006. The impact of invasive plants on tidal-marsh vertebrate species: Common Reed (Phragmites australis) and Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) as case studies. Studies Avian Biol. 32:229-239.
• Marshall, J. T., Jr. 1948. Ecologic races of Song Sparrows in the San Francisco Bay region. Part I. Habitat and abundance. Condor 50:193-215.
• Nice, M. M. 1937. Studies in the life history of the Song Sparrow, Pt. I. Trans. Linn. Soc. N.Y. 4:1-247.
• Partners in Flight. 2012. Species assessment database. http://rmbo.org/pifassessment/Database.aspx
• Peterson, D., Cayan, D., DiLeo, J., Noble M., Dettinger, M. 1995. The role of climate in estuarine variability. Am. Scientist 83:58-67.
• Shuford, W. D., and Gardali, T., editors. 2008. California Bird Species of Special Concern: A ranked assessment of species, subspecies, and distinct populations of birds of immediate conservation concern in California.
• Takekawa, J., Woo, I., Spautz, H., Nur, N., Grenier, J. L., Malamud-Roam, K., Nordby, J. C., Cohen, A. N., Malamud-Roam, F., and Wainwright-De La Cruz, S. E. 2006. Environmental threats to tidal-marsh vertebrates of the San Francisco Bay estuary. Studies Avian Biol. 32:176-197.
• USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. 2012. North American Breeding Bird Survey 1966 - 2010 analysis. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/specl10.html