24 Types of Sparrows Found In Florida! (ID GUIDE)
What kinds of sparrows can you find in Florida?
No matter where you live in Florida, you are familiar with seeing sparrows. However, many people are surprised to discover the wide variety of species near them.
Below you’ll learn how to identify sparrows by sight or sound. Make sure to pay attention to the range maps to see which ones live near you!
Here are the 24 types of sparrows found in Florida!
- The range maps below were generously shared with permission from The Birds of the World, published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I use their site often to learn new information about birds.
#1. Horned Lark
- Eremophila alpestris
Identifying characteristics:
- Has a long body with a small bill.
- Males have a black chest band, a curving black mask on face, and black head stripes, sometimes with 2 raised feathers shaped like tiny horns. Face and throat are either yellow or white, with white underparts.
- Females are lighter in color, with a pattern, but lack a black mask and horns, and have pale yellow on the throat.
Have you ever seen a sparrow in Florida with “horns?”
If so, then it must have been a Horned Lark! Look for them on the ground in large fields with very short or no vegetation, foraging for small seeds and insects. Their coloration blends with the dirt very well, so make sure to scan closely, so you don’t miss one!
Horned Lark Range Map
Horned Larks are social birds, so they are often seen in huge flocks after breeding season. While they’re still relatively common, these sparrows have unfortunately seen a sharp decline in their population over the past 50 years.
These species’ songs are sweet, musical, fast, and high-pitched. Males either sing from low perches or 800 feet in the air while flying. Listen below.
#2. House Sparrow
- Passer domesticus
Identifying Characteristics:
- Males have gray crowns, black bib, white cheeks, and chestnut on the sides of their faces and neck. Their backs are predominantly brown with black streaks.
- Females are a dull brown color with streaks of black on their backs. Their underparts are light brown. This sparrow can be distinguished by the tan line that extends behind its eye.
House Sparrows are an invasive species (originally from the Middle East) and now one of the most abundant and widespread birds in Florida (and the world)!
Range Map – House Sparrow
The House Sparrows compete with many native birds, such as bluebirds and Purple Martins, for nest cavities. Unfortunately, these invasive species tend to win more times than not.
In most urban and suburban areas it’s INCREDIBLY COMMON to see House Sparrows. They owe their success to their ability to adapt and live near humans. Unlike most other birds, they love grains and are commonly seen eating bread and popcorn at amusement parks, sporting events, etc. At your bird feeders, they especially love eating cracked corn, millet, and milo.
House Sparrows can be heard across the entire planet. In fact, pay attention the next time you’re watching the news in another country. Listen for a simple song that includes lots of “cheep” notes.
#3. Song Sparrow
- Melospiza melodia
Identifying Characteristics:
- Chest has brown streaks that converge onto a central breast spot.
- On their head, look for a brown crown with a gray stripe down the middle and a gray eyebrow and gray cheek.
- Back and body are mostly rust-brown with gray streaks throughout.
These birds can be incredibly difficult to identify due to their abundance and how similar they all tend to look. But luckily, Song Sparrows are one of the easier sparrow species to identify correctly.
Song Sparrow Range Map
Song sparrows are common in Florida, especially in wet, shrubby, and open areas.
Unlike other birds that nest in trees, Song Sparrows primarily nest in weeds and grasses. However, you’ll often find them nesting directly on the ground.
My favorite feature of Song Sparrows is their beautiful songs that can be heard across the continent. The typical one, which you can listen to below, consists of three short notes followed by a pretty trill. The song varies depending on location and the individual bird.
#4. Swamp Sparrow
- Melospiza georgiana
Identifying Characteristics:
- Medium size, plump, short conical bill, and long tail.
- Both sexes have a gray face with a reddish cap, gray breast, gray throat, and a dark streak line behind the eye.
- Reddish-brown wings.
Swamp Sparrows are seen in Florida primarily near water.
This species likes marshes with cattails or other tall reeds or grasses.
Swamp Sparrow Range Map
Look for them foraging and perching near the water’s edge, scratching up seeds and insects in brushy habitats. In winter, this species eats mostly seeds and plant matter. In spring and summer, they prefer insects. Their long legs allow them to wade in shallow water and catch prey.
These sparrows may visit your backyard to eat lilies or blueberries. Make sure you have some thick ground cover or brush piles for them to hide inside.
Males sing a simple slow trill from perches and can sing all day and even at night. Listen below.
#5. Vesper Sparrow
- Pooecetes gramineus
Identifying Characteristics:
- More round and chunky, small bill, and notched tail.
- Both sexes have brown streaks all over, a white eye-ring, and white outer tail feathers.
Look for Vesper Sparrows in Florida in open grassy areas, like prairies, pastures, sagebrush, and meadows. This sparrow prefers not to be in long grass or wet areas.
Vesper sparrows typically spend all their time running and hopping on the ground, foraging on seeds in the grass or weeds.
Vesper Sparrow Range Map
These birds also like to take dust baths to get clean.
You may see Vespers singing from fences, posts, shrubs at any time from morning until night. Listen below.
#6. White-crowned Sparrow
- Zonotrichia leucophrys
Identifying Characteristics:
- Both sexes can be grayish or brownish with a long tail.
- On their head, they can have black and white stripes or brown and tan. The head is peaked on the crown.
- Bills are orangish-yellow or pinkish.
White-crowned Sparrows are found in shrubbery habitats with open grassy areas in the breeding season. In winter, they prefer weedy fields, thickets, and backyards.
White-crowned Sparrow Range Map
If you want to attract these sparrows to your backyard, use sunflower seeds. Just make sure the food is placed on the ground, as they won’t fly up to feeders. and having a brush pile will entice them to stay.
White-crowned Sparrows are known for their long migration journeys. This sparrow has been known to travel over 300 miles in one night.
Males primarily sing, but females on occasion will too. Their song lasts only a few seconds. Listen below.
#7. White-throated Sparrow
- Zonotrichia albicollis
Identifying Characteristics:
- Both sexes’ colors can vary; some can be more grayish or tannish on their chunky body.
- Head is typically black and white striped with a yellow spot between the eyes.
- White throat patch, gray face, and small bill.
Look for these sparrows in the woods on the forest edge. They enjoy scratching at the ground under leaves or picking leaves up and moving them out of the way with their bill.
White-throated Sparrow Range Map
This species readily visits bird feeders, especially in winter. Feed them sunflower seeds or millet and make sure some of the food ends up on the ground, as they won’t fly up to feeders. Luckily, I see these birds often at my feeding station! And having a place for them to hide and find shelter will entice them to stay.
To attract them to your backyard, use black oil sunflower seeds and millet in the winter.
White-throated Sparrows sing a high-pitched whistle that is easy to learn. Just listen for “Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada.”
#8. Savannah Sparrow
- Passerculus sandwichensis
Identifying Characteristics:
- Both sexes have a plump body, brown feathers, and a super tiny and short tail.
- Streaked with brown and white underparts with a yellow mark above the eye.
Savannah Sparrows are widespread across Florida.
Look for them in dense grassy areas like meadows, pastures, grassy roadsides, and fields.
Savannah Sparrow Range Map
Unfortunately, this sparrow does not visit bird feeders. But you may spot one in your yard looking for cover in winter, especially if you live by a field or have a brush pile for them to hide inside.
Savannah’s Sparrows fly low to the ground and only for short distances. They are mostly seen walking on the ground foraging for insects and sometimes even running down their prey.
Males sing from perches like a fence. It starts with a few high-pitched notes, then a buzzy sound, and ends with a low trill. Listen below.
#9. Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Melospiza lincolnii
Identifying Characteristics:
- Medium-sized, small bill, raised crown feathers on top of the head.
- Both sexes have a gray face with thin brown and black streaks.
- Buff white breast with some light tan streaking.
Lincoln’s Sparrows are often found in wet meadows in summer, but they like pine-oak forests or tropical forests when they migrate south in winter.
These birds like to visit backyards that provide them with food and a place to hide like a brush pile. They’ll eat small seeds on the ground, like sunflower and millet, that have spilled out from your feeders.
Lincoln’s Sparrow Range Map
This species tends not to move while singing, so you should have time to spot one if you hear them first.
Lincoln’s are the most musical sparrow in Florida. Listen below.
#10. Lapland Longspur
- Calcarius lapponicus
Identifying Characteristics:
- Small sparrow with a large head, long wings, and short dark tail with white outer feathers.
- Males have a dark black face with yellow-white on the sides. Chestnut-brown patch on the nape of the neck.
- Females are similar but lack black on their faces.
- In winter, both sexes turn light brown and streaked but keep their dark face pattern.
Lapland Longspurs are sparrows, but they are in the longspur family (Calcariidae) because of the elongated claw on their hind toe. This helps them move over uneven or unstable vegetation easier and faster.
In the summer, Laplands are big eaters, eating up to 10,000 seeds or insects a day!
These sparrows breed in the cold arctic tundra, where males put on an entertaining display of song and flight. They do this by flying about 65 feet in the air and sing while flying towards the ground, which helps attract the females’ attention. In addition, males also perform a “Grass Display” in which they gather grass or moss to give to the female.
Laplands Longspur Range Map
Lapland Sparrows form large flocks in winter as they migrate south to warmer locations. Flocks are estimated to have 4 million birds. Look for them near you in winter in wide-open areas like farm fields.
Songs are very long and squeaky sounding. Also, the variation of notes makes it sound like there’s more than one bird.
#11. Dark-eyed Junco
- Junco hyemalis
Identifying characteristics:
- Smooth and soft-looking slate gray with a white belly.
- Small pale bill, long tail with white outer feathers.
- Dark-eyed Juncos have various color patterns depending on the region. So one by you could look different than the pictures above.
Dark-eyed Juncos are one of the most common birds in Florida. A recent estimate sets their population around 630 million.
You can easily identify these sparrows by how smooth their feathers look. It appears like they would be as soft as a chinchilla to touch.
Dark-eyed Junco Range Map
This species is found in pine and mixed-coniferous forests when they breed, but in winter, they are in fields, parks, woodlands, and backyards.
Dark-eyed Juncos like to visit feeders in the winter, but ONLY ON THE GROUND, where they consume fallen seeds.
Males sing a two-second loud musical trilling song that can carry over hundreds of feet away. In addition, both sexes also sing softer songs that are a mixture of warbles, trills, and whistles.
#12. Chipping Sparrow
- Spizella passerina
Identifying characteristics:
- Some are brightly colored with a rusty crown, grayish belly, and a black-streaked eyeline.
- Others are paler with a brownish crown, grayish belly, and an unstreaked neck and belly.
- Both sexes are slim with a long tail and medium-sized bill.
Chipping Sparrows are common across northern and central Florida.
Luckily, they’re easy to identify, thanks to their rust-colored crown. You’ll often see them at backyard feeding stations, eating black oil sunflower seeds and other seed mixes on the ground.
Chipping Sparrow Range Map
Look for them in the woods by grassy meadows. These sparrows are also common in suburban areas!
Chipping Sparrows have loud, trilling songs among the most common sounds of spring woodlands and suburbs. Their songs are long trill notes that they repeat over and over, almost sound mechanical. Listen below!
#13. Fox Sparrows
- Passerella iliaca
Identifying characteristics:
- Large, round-bodied, thick bills and medium-length tails.
- Both sexes are typically reddish-brown (like a fox) on top and a mix of brown and gray on the head; the breast is speckled with brown and white on underparts and breast.
- Bills can be yellowish or dark gray.
The coloration of this sparrow varies depending on its location. Types of Fox Sparrows include Red, Sooty, Thick-billed, and Slate-colored.
Fox Sparrows prefer to live in coniferous forests and thick scrubland when breeding. They rarely leave these covered areas in the forest until winter, when they visit backyard bird feeders to eat small seeds on the ground.
Fox Sparrow Range Map
Fox Sparrows like to kick the leaves on the ground, searching for seeds and insects.
These birds are so protective of their nests that they release a loud chirp call note to pretend they are injured to lure potential predators, including humans, away from their nests.
Males and females both sing, but the females’ song is shorter and softer. Just like their color differences, the Fox Sparrows song varies depending on the region. Listen for a series of whistled notes.
#14. Grasshopper Sparrow
- Ammodramus savannarum
Identifying characteristics:
- Both sexes are brown and tan, with a flat head and small orange-yellow mark by their eye.
- Thick neck, a long bill, and short tail.
Grasshopper Sparrows stay close to the ground because they typically prefer running or walking to flying. That’s why you’ll find them where it’s flat, such as grasslands, prairies, and open pastures.
While walking in fields, be on the lookout for Grasshopper Sparrow nests! They actually make their nests on the ground in thick patches of tall grass.
Grasshopper Sparrow Range Map
These sparrows get their name from grasshoppers being a huge part of their diet. To feed their babies, they will catch a grasshopper, shake it until its legs fall off, and then feed it to their young.
Grasshopper Sparrows are one of only a few sparrows in Florida that sing two distinct songs. One is high-pitched, buzzy, and insect-like (featured below). The other is more musical and squeaky.
#15. American Pipit
- Anthus rubescens
Identifying characteristics:
- Both sexes are small and slim with a long thin bill. The tail is medium in length and dark with white edges.
- Gray-brown upperparts and pale buff underparts. Their breast is light to darkly streaked.
- In the winter, they are browner.
You’ll find these sparrows in open areas along the river or lakeshore foraging for food like seabirds. However, they’re also in other bare habitats like short grass plains, sandbars, and manufactured habitats like harvested fields and winter wheat fields.
American Pipit Range Map
American Pipits have a long hind toe (called a hallux) and toenail that helps them walk and search for food on the unstable ground like snowfields and mud. Sometimes, they’ll go into shallow water, to hunt insect larvae.
You can easily identify the American Pipit from the unique way it walks. They strut around quickly and jerk their head forward, similar to how chickens walk.
Listen for their song, which is a series of rapid “cheedle” notes.
#16. Bachman’s Sparrow
- Peucaea aestivalis
Identifying characteristics:
- Both sexes are medium-sized, gray-brown with black and brown streaks on the back and wings, with a rounded tail and bill.
- Gray face with rusty brown on top of the head and a stripe by eyes.
- The breast is pale gray with a dark spot in the center and rusty brown on the sides.
Bachman’s Sparrows are found in meadows by pine forests in Florida. Surprisingly, we don’t know as much about this bird as we do other sparrow species.
These sparrows prefer to forage for food by walking or hopping to find grass seeds and insects. Interestingly, they are known actually to run more often than they fly. However, when they do fly, it is not pretty, as it looks like they’re struggling just to keep themselves up.
Bachman’s Sparrow Range Map
This species is known to be quite smart. So smart that to escape predators, like hawks or snakes, they’ll go underground into burrows dug by other animals such as armadillos.
Bachman’s Sparrows populations are small and have been declining for the last 50 years.
But here’s the good news:
Conservation efforts are underway. The primary strategy is to use controlled burning every few years to thin the forest, which seems to be helping.
Their songs start with a long note followed by several rapid trill notes. Listen below.
#17. Dickcissel
- Spiza americana
Identifying characteristics:
- Males are larger sparrow-like birds with a black V shape on their throat, with a yellow breast and rust color on their upper wings.
- Females are similar, but their colors are paler, and they lack the black V shape on their necks.
- Both sexes have thick bills and short tails.
The Dickcissel has a unique look. At first glance, it appears that a House Sparrow and Evening Grosbeak had a baby!
These sparrows are found in Florida in tall hayfields, grasslands, or grazed fields perched on stalks to pluck seeds. They’ll also walk or hop on the ground, foraging for food.
Dickcissel Range Map
Dickcissels eat both insects and seeds during the breeding season, from grasshoppers to caterpillars to beetles. In winter, they eat primarily only seeds on migration, including grasses, rice, and sorghum. Males can eat over a dozen sorghum seeds per minute, and females are just a little slower than males.
These sparrows are known for the LARGE groups they can form. To prepare to migrate in the fall, they’ll form flocks numbering in the thousands. Then once they get to their winter destination, the flocks will be in the millions.
Although it can vary, the Dickcissel song includes chirpy notes that sound like “dick-dick-see-see-see,” hence how they got their name. Listen below!
#18. Eastern Towhee
- Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Identifying characteristics:
- Large sparrow with a chunky body, thicker triangular-shaped bill, and rounded tail.
- Males are black on upperparts and breast, rusty color on sides, and white belly.
- Females are warm brown on upperparts, light rusty color on sides, and white belly.
Eastern Towhees are one of the biggest sparrows in Florida.
Towhees like thick brush along the forest edge where they search for food on the ground under fallen leaves. They find their food by hopping backward and scratching the ground with their feet.
Eastern Towhees Range Map
You’ll often see these birds in your backyard if you have thick shrubbery or overgrown wooded areas. They’ll also sometimes visit bird feeders to eat seeds that have fallen to the ground.
Unfortunately, the Brown-headed Cowbird takes advantage of Eastern Towhee’s parenting skills. When female Cowbirds lay eggs, they’ll often find a Towhee nest and take out the Towhees egg and lay their egg inside. The Towhee sadly cannot tell the difference, so the female raises the Cowbirds young. In some areas, Cowbirds have laid their eggs in over half of the Towhee nests!
Males are the only ones to sing, but their songs have an easy mnemonic to help you remember their sound. Listen for a quick trill that sounds like “drink-your-tea!” Listen below.
#19. Henslow’s Sparrow
- Centronyx henslowii
Identifying characteristics:
- Both sexes are large, with a flat head, large bill, and a short spiked tail.
- Tan and buff, with brown, black, and white streaks on upperparts. Head is greenish-yellow with dark stripes on the side of their crown. They also have a yellow spot between the eye and bill.
- The breast is white with black streaks and a short spiky tail.
Henslow’s Sparrows are very secretive. Look for them spending much of their day foraging in thick weedy fields or pastures foraging for food. In winter, they like to be near saltmarshes.
If bothered, they prefer to walk rather than fly away. Many times, you’ll see them running through the grass to flee a predator.
Henslow’s Sparrow Range Map
Their songs are the shortest and simplest of all the sparrows in Florida.
Listen for a 2-second simple high whistle!
#20. LeConte’s Sparrow
- Ammospiza leconteii
Identifying Characteristics:
- Both sexes are small and appear chunky.
- Coloration is brownish-pumpkin orange, with a black eye-line that thickens as it goes to the back of the head.
- Eyebrow is brighter orange than the face. Face and breast are creamy-white with a tiny gray bill.
LeConte’s prefer to walk or hop on dense grasses in open marshy or boggy meadows. They would rather run if frightened because their flying is fairly weak!
LeConte’s Sparrow Range Map
LeConte’s Sparrows spend most of their time hidden under shrubbery on the ground, so they sort of act more like a mouse than a bird. It’s a shame because they’re one of the most beautiful sparrows in Florida.
Males like to sing from covered perches and sometimes will sing in flight. LISTEN BELOW!
#21. Nelson’s Sparrow
- Ammospiza nelsoni
Identifying Characteristics:
- Both sexes are medium-sized with a short conical bill and short tail.
- Some are pale and orangish-looking, with gray on the nape and cheeks. Others have more contrasting, darker orange colors.
You will see the Nelson’s Sparrow in Florida, in wet meadows or freshwater wetlands with cattails and reeds. During winter, they migrate south to saltwater marshes. These birds are incredibly similar to Saltmarsh Sparrows and were actually considered the same species until 1989!
Look for them foraging on or near the ground or making short flights. They eat a wide variety of insects, including spiders, beetles, other arthropods.
Nelson’s Sparrow Range Map
Nelson’s Sparrows frequently sing at night but will stop singing when another male approaches. They’re not territorial, but they might chase off other males when a female is present. They also follow females to ward off other males even when they’re not paired mates.
The male Nelson’s song is a high hissing sound, like a bird that lost its voice. Males and sometimes females sing to show their dominance, but they are not territorial. Listen below.
#22. Saltmarsh Sparrow
- Ammospiza caudacuta
Identifying Characteristics:
- Smaller sparrow, with a round belly, flathead, long bill, and short, thin tail.
- Both sexes have orange markings around their gray cheeks, a black stripe from the crown to the tip of their bill.
You need to be seaside to see the Saltmarsh Sparrow. As its name suggests, these sparrows are located in and restricted to the saltmarshes of Florida.
Saltmarsh Sparrow Range Map
Saltmarsh Sparrows search for insects or seeds during low tide from marsh plants in vegetation or muddy openings on the ground.
Females build the nest only a few feet off the ground with a thatch that serves as a lid to protect the eggs from possible flooding. Saltmarsh Sparrows are careful where they build their nest because the high tide can wash it away.
The males sing only when females are around, and their songs are call notes that sound broken and insect-like. Listen below.
#23. Seaside Sparrow
- Ammospiza maritima
Identifying Characteristics:
- Plump sparrow, with a long thin bill, long legs, and short wings.
- Both sexes are primarily gray, with dark streaks below, yellowish marks on the wing, and yellow streaks by their eye.
It’s no surprise that the Seaside Sparrow is located by the sea in Florida!
Seaside Sparrow Range Map
Seaside Sparrows use their wings and tails to communicate with each other. They do this similar to the workers that signal planes into the tarmac.
Their long thin bills, long legs, and strong feet help them run and dig up insects and seeds from the marsh’s mud and thick vegetation.
Males sing a buzzy rising trill lasting only seconds. Listen below.
#24. Sprague’s Pipit
- Anthus spragueii
Identifying Characteristics:
- Small, often slender-sized sparrow, with long legs and a small thin bill.
- Both sexes are buffy white with dark marks on their back and wings. Their legs and feet are pale pink.
Sprague’s Pipit typically forages for seeds or insects on the ground, but they’ll also fly to catch insects in the air and eat them whole.
Look for these sparrows in Florida in tall mixed-grass prairies in the Great Plains during the breeding season. Then, in winter, they fly south to enjoy the warmth.
Sprague’s Pipit Range Map
The Sprague’s Pipit male likes to put on an aerial display to define nesting territories during the breeding season. They fly upwards to about 300 feet and then begin singing as they descend in a swirling pattern.
Males’ songs are quick notes that are high-pitched and buzzy. Listen below.
Do you need additional help identifying sparrows?
Try this field guide!
Which of these sparrows have you seen before in Florida?
Leave a comment below!
