Another large, winter sparrow with a black and white or brown and tan head pattern is the white-crowned sparrow. White-crowneds also have pink colored bills. White-throateds have dark colored bills. The white-crowned also has a thin seeet note. The swamp sparrow is a 5-6 inch sparrow found in dense vegetation, in wet open areas or at the edges of ponds, streams and lakes.
Swamps have rusty crowns and rusty wings and black streaks along their back.
Adults show a lot of gray on the face and neck and a whitish throat patch. The call note of the swamp is very similar to the hard chink of the white-throated. Immature swamps and immature Lincoln's can be very difficult to differentiate. Good light will show the Lincoln's crown to be brown and the swamp's to be dusky-black. The immature Lincoln's plummage is brighter than the swamp's and the ear coverts are lighter.