Black-chinned Sparrow

Spizella atrogularisOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Codes: Common Name: BCSP Scientific Name: SPIATR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179448

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Overview

Black-chinned Sparrow: Medium sparrow, plain, dark gray with brown-streaked back, pale gray belly, black chin and pale eyestripe. Bill is pink. The legs and feet are yellow-gray. Forages in brush and on ground. Short flights on rapidly beating wings alternating with periods of wings pulled to sides.

Range and Habitat

Black-chinned Sparrow: Breeds from south central California east to southern Nevada and southwest Utah, south to Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, and Mexico. Spends winters from coastal California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, south into Baja California and Mexico. In desert regions, inhabit tall, dense sagebrush or other brushlands; in the far west, prefer dry chaparral with a variety of shrubs and scrub oak.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"sweet-sweet-swee-iiiiii-r", chew-chew-chew"

Interesting Facts

Black-chinned Sparrows have suffered from habitat loss and degradation due to overgrazing, mining, and use of off-road vehicles.

Singing males are conspicuous when they sit on top of high bushes; their song carries well through the narrow, brushy canyons they inhabit, but in general they are shy and secretive.

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

Bird Term Glossary

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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.

Black-chinned Sparrow

● Song: "sweet-sweet-swee-iiiiii-r", chew-chew-chew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-chinned Sparrow: Feeds on seeds and insects; forages in sage and chaparral.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-chinned Sparrow: Two to five light blue eggs are laid in a grass-lined cup nest well concealed in a low bush. Female incubates eggs for about 13 days.

● Similar species: Black-chinned Sparrow: Juncos have white outer tail feathers.

Flight Pattern

Flights of short duration on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: Black-chinned Sparrow: Breeds from south central California east to southern Nevada and southwest Utah, south to Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, and Mexico. Spends winters from coastal California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, south into Baja California and Mexico. In desert regions, inhabit tall, dense sagebrush or other brushlands; in the far west, prefer dry chaparral with a variety of shrubs and scrub oak.

^BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies

^PopulationUncommon and local

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Chin

The area of the face just below the bill.

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