chipping sparrow

American  

noun

1. a small, North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, common in urban areas.

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chipping sparrow British  

noun

1. a common North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, having brown-and-grey plumage and a white eye stripe

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Etymology

Origin of chipping sparrow

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; chip ² + -ing ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chipping sparrow

When a chipping sparrow trills, it could be that spring has arrived.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2020

“In 2015, I had great blue heron, red-bellied woodpecker, American crow, American robin, brown thrasher, northern parula, pine warbler, yellow-throated warbler, chipping sparrow, white-throated sparrow.”

From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2019

Before the lens of noted Nature Photographer Porter, the common chipping sparrow looks as powerful and dramatic as the Owl-Magician in Swan Lake.

From Time Magazine Archive

I will also exchange a chimney-swallow's egg for the egg of any bird except a robin, blue jay, or chipping sparrow.

From Harper's Young People, September 21, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

In and out The chipping sparrow, in her coat of brown, Steals silently, lest I should mark her nest.

From Poems by William Cullen Bryant