The Chipping sparrow is a small and slender sparrow that has a distinctive sharp chip note and simple, trilling song. Breeding adults display a chestnut crown, a black eye-stripe, and crisp white eyebrow. After nesting season, both male and female lose their distinctive bright cap for a streaky dull brown head pattern that is similar to other winter sparrows.

It is a common summer resident in open forests and drier woodland edges throughout Oregon and is especially abundant in the Blue Mountains. The Chipping sparrow is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Willamette Valley ecoregion.

Hear the song of the Chipping sparrow

Photo by ©Keith Kohl, ODFW