New World Sparrows in California
Our list for California has 10 new world sparrows recorded regularly there: 5 residents and 5 winter visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in California in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 10, most common first
White-crowned SparrowZonotrichia leucophrysWinter visitorCommon15–16 cmRecorded all year
Song SparrowMelospiza melodiaResidentCommon12–17 cmRecorded all year
Lincoln's SparrowMelospiza lincolniiWinter visitorUncommon13–15 cmRegularly Jun–Apr
Fox SparrowPasserella iliacaResidentUncommon15–19 cmRecorded all year
Chipping SparrowSpizella passerinaResidentUncommon12–15 cmRecorded all year
Lark SparrowChondestes grammacusResidentUncommon15–17 cmRecorded all year
Vesper SparrowPooecetes gramineusResidentRare13–17 cmRecorded all year
Clay-colored SparrowSpizella pallidaWinter visitorRare13–15 cmRegularly Sep–May
Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgianaWinter visitorRare12–15 cmRegularly Oct–Apr
American Tree SparrowSpizelloides arboreaWinter visitorRare14–17 cmRegularly Oct–Feb
Smallest to largest
Length, cmData: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made