Swamp Sparrow, first winter
Melospiza georgiana
Swamp Sparrow · Constitution Marsh · 17 October 2026
A Swamp Sparrow among turning maple leaves at the edge of Constitution Marsh. Swamp Sparrows breed in the cattail and reed beds of Canada and the northern states, pour south through the Hudson Valley in October, and a few stay the winter in the tidal marshes.
The blurred streaking on the breast marks a bird hatched this summer; an adult has a plain grey breast. Of all the sparrows it is the one most at home in water, wading the shallows and picking insects off the surface, sometimes with its whole head under.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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