General

Brewer's Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with finely streaked gray-brown upperparts, pale eye-ring, dark moustache stripe, and plain, pale gray underparts. Bill is pink with dark tip. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has streaked underparts.

Range and Habitat

Brewer's Sparrow: Breeds in the northern Rocky Mountains of the Yukon and British Columbia and in the Great Basin south to southern California and New Mexico. Spends winters in southwestern states and Mexico, but is absent from the Pacific coast. Preferred habitats include sagebrush and alpine meadows.

Breeding and Nesting

Brewer's Sparrow: Three to five blue green eggs with dark brown spots and specks are laid in a grass nest on or near the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Brewer's Sparrow: During summer months, diet consists of insects such as beetles, ants, wasps, and grasshoppers. In the fall and winter, eats weed and grass seeds.

Vocalization

Brewer's Sparrow: Song is a series of alternating, musical, or buzzing trills, often quite prolonged. Call is a soft "seep", usually given in flight.

Similar Species

Brewer's Sparrow: Clay-colored Sparrow has white central crown stripe, dark cheek borders, gray hindneck, and dark whisker. Field Sparrow has pink bill, rust-brown crown, and white eye-ring. In fall and winter, Chipping Sparrow is darker brown above, grayer below, and has dark upper mandible.