Brewer's Sparrow

Spizella breweriOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Codes: Common Name: BRSP Scientific Name: SPIBRE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179440

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Brewer's Sparrow: Medium sparrow with finely streaked gray-brown upperparts, pale eye-ring, dark moustache stripe, and plain, pale gray underparts. Bill is pink with dark tip. Legs and feet are gray-pink. Short flights with rapidly beating wing strokes alternating with wings pulled briefly to sides.

Range and Habitat

Brewer's Sparrow: Breeds in 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 is absent from the Pacific coast. Preferred habitats include sagebrush and alpine meadows.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"seep-seep-seep"

Interesting Facts

In the future, the Brewer's Sparrow may be split into two separate species - one subspecies, the Timberline Sparrow, differs in appearance, song, breeding range and habitat.

This sparrow is unusual in having two distinct nesting populations, one in the alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains of the Yukon and the other in the sagebrush deserts of the western United States.

Males have 2 distinct types of songs - classified as short and long songs. The songs are a varied mix of notes and trills.

A group of sparrows has many collective nouns, including a "crew", "flutter", "meinie", "quarrel", and "ubiquity" of sparrows.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Juan Costa

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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.

Brewer's Sparrow

● Song: "seep-seep-seep"

● Foraging & 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.

● Breeding & 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.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Short flights with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Brewer's Sparrow: Breeds in 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 is absent from the Pacific coast. Preferred habitats include sagebrush and alpine meadows.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

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

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

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

Brewer's Sparrow

Related Birds

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Range and Habitat

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Interesting Facts

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Artist

Brewer's Sparrow

Flight Pattern