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Bird name:

White-crowned Sparrow

Zonotrichia leucophrys

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Code 4

WCSP

Code 6

ZONLEU

ITIS

179455

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Grassland with scattered trees, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Mountains

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Common to fairly common

Egg Color:

Light blue or green with red brown markings

Number of Eggs:

2 - 6

Incubation Days:

11 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Grasses, sticks, rootlets, and forbs.

Migration:

Northern birds migrate

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General

White-crowned Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with brown-streaked upperparts, small white throat patch, and plain gray underparts. White crown has distinct black lines. Wings are brown with two pale bars. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has buff and brown head stripes.

Range and Habitat

White-crowned Sparrow: Breeds from Alaska and Manitoba east to Labrador and Newfoundland, and south into the western mountains to northern New Mexico and central California. Spends winters north to southern Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, and Maryland. Preferred nesting habitats include dense brush, especially near open grasslands. During winter, occurs in open woods and gardens.

Breeding and Nesting

White-crowned Sparrow: Two to six light blue or green eggs marked with red brown are laid in a bulky cup of bark strips, grass, and twigs, lined with grass and hair, and built on a clump of grass or moss, or in a bush or low tree up to 30 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by the female; raises up to 4 broods per year in the south.

Foraging and Feeding

White-crowned Sparrow: Diet includes seeds, buds, grass, fruits, and insects. Forages on the ground by scratching or gleans food from vegetation.

Readily Eats

Sunflower Seed, Commercial Mixed Bird Seed

Vocalization

White-crowned Sparrow: Song is composed of one or more "pure tone” whistles followed by more complex sounds consisting of frequency sweeps, buzzy vibrato elements, and trills - "poor-wet-wetter-chee-zee." Call is a sharp note of "pink" or "tseek."

Similar Species

White-crowned Sparrow: White-throated Sparrow has more rufous upperparts, a mostly dark bill, and well-defined white throat patch. Harris's Sparrow winter adult and juvenile are slightly larger, have pink bill, and buff face.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America