Golden-crowned Sparrow in May

May is the peak of the birding year. Migration floods the North, dawn chorus is at its loudest, and nesting is underway across most of the continent. By month's end the first broods of the year are hatching in mid-latitudes.

For the Golden-crowned Sparrow specifically, May is a spring month of relative routine, with the species settled into its seasonal pattern across its range. Across the 6 states and provinces where golden-crowned sparrows occur, what the bird is doing this month depends heavily on latitude — the details below break it down by band.

Southern states

absent

Mid-latitudes

summer breeder

Northern states & Canada

absent

In May, golden-crowned sparrows are absent in the South, summer breeder across the mid-latitudes, and absent in the northern states and Canada. That north–south split is the defining feature of this month: where you live changes which version of this bird you're looking at.

Golden-crowned sparrows are not nesting in May. The season runs June–July at mid-latitudes, starting roughly a month earlier in the South.

Outside the nesting season, golden-crowned sparrows put their energy into feeding and flocking rather than territory and young — which is exactly what makes them easier to watch and attract this month.

• Insects on breeding grounds

A West Coast winter visitor from October to April.

Adults feeding nestlings need easy calories. Some species that ignored feeders all winter now visit regularly, and you may see fledglings brought to feeders by their parents.

Full Golden-crowned Sparrow diet guide → · Best feeder for golden-crowned sparrows →

Golden-crowned sparrows are settled and predictable in May, which makes this a good month to learn the bird's routine — same feeders, same perches, same times of day.

The state guides below show exactly where in your region golden-crowned sparrows are expected this month and which native plants hold them in a yard.

AlaskaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaOregonWashingtonYukon