I’ve seen American Tree Sparrows visit my feeders in the past, but it’s usually been for a very short time and then they are off again. This winter, a small flock has been visiting my yard daily. They arrive each morning with a sizeable gang of juncos and House Finches.
American Tree Sparrows prefer to eat on the ground, but they will visit feeders. My visitors prefer my platform feeder when they aren’t hopping around on the snow looking for discarded seeds under the hanging feeders.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “American Tree Sparrows need to take in about 30 percent of their body weight in food and a similar percentage in water each day. A full day’s fasting is usually a death sentence. Their body temperature drops and they lose nearly a fifth of their weight in that short time.”
This was an especially disturbing fact to know during our Christmas week mini blizzard with snow and wind chills that hit the minus 30s(F). I would’ve preferred to stay inside my cozy house on those days, but I ventured outside regularly to clear a patch of snow under the feeders and sprinkle fresh seed. Thankfully because it was so cold and windy, the squirrels stayed hunkered in their dreys (nests) and weren’t out vacuuming up all the seed before the birds could get to it.
These little birds can look similar to Song Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows from a distance, but Song Sparrows have a streaked breast and Chipping Sparrows have a black line through their eye rather than a rusty-colored one.
