Spizella pusilla
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) is a small New World sparrow in the family Passerellidae. It is about 140 mm (6 in) long and weighs about 12.5 g (0.4 oz). The head is grey with a rust-coloured crown, white eye-ring and pink bill. The upper parts are brown streaked with black and buff, the breast is buff, the belly is white and the tail is forked. There are two different colour morphs, one being greyer and the other more rufous.
The field sparrow is distributed across eastern Canada and the eastern United States, with northern populations migrating southwards to southern United States and north-eastern Mexico in the fall. The typical habitat of this bird is bushy country with shrubs and grassland. The nest is a cup-shaped construction built on the ground and hidden beneath a bush or clump of grass. The birds forage on the ground or in low vegetation, feeding mainly on seeds and insects. The population is thought to be in slow decline, but it is a common species with a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Adults have brown upperparts, a buffy breast, a white belly, two... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Field Sparrow sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 805 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 45th most-seen of the 186 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Field Sparrow in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September and November, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Field Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Field Sparrow sightings, Shenandoah National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Field Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Shenandoah National Park (805 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
