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

From morning till night the chipping sparrow baby, with fine streaked breast, uttered his shrill cricket-like trill.

From Little Brothers of the Air by Olive Thorne Miller

Chickadees are wonderfully tame: except the chipping sparrow, perhaps the tamest birds that we have.

From Birds Every Child Should Know by Neltje Blanchan