Chipping Sparrows in Arkansas

Chipping Sparrows live in Arkansas all year. Mild winters with occasional ice storms that make suet and sheltered feeders critical for a few days at a time. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward grass seeds.

Humid subtropical, with the Ozark and Ouachita highlands in the northwest and the flat Mississippi Delta in the east.

Across Arkansas, chipping sparrows typically nest from April–July. Nest site: loose cup lined with hair, 3–10 ft up in conifers or shrubs. Females lay 2–7 eggs, incubate for 10–15 days, and young leave the nest after 9–12 days.

Hot, humid summers; shade nest boxes in the Delta.

• Chipping Sparrows don't use nest boxes. Keep dense native shrubs and trees such as red maple for nest sites.
• Delay heavy pruning of shrubs until after July.

Of the regional native plants we track for Arkansas, these 7 provide food or cover chipping sparrows use:

Chippers feed on lawns and low platforms and nest in ornamental evergreens near houses.

• Best foods: Millet, Hulled sunflower chips.
• In Arkansas's winter: Mild winters with occasional ice storms that make suet and sheltered feeders critical for a few days at a time.

Full diet breakdown for chipping sparrows · Best feeder for chipping sparrows