Black-throated Sparrow

Amphispiza bilineataOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Codes: Common Name: BTSP Scientific Name: AMPBIL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179395

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Overview

Black-throated Sparrow: Medium sparrow, gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, black bib. Head has dark gray cap and sharply contrasting white eyebrow and cheek stripe. Bill is black. Long, round-tipped tail is edged with white. Legs and feet are gray. Forages on the ground and in low vegetation.

Range and Habitat

Black-throated Sparrow: Breeds from northeastern California, southwestern Wyoming, and southeastern Colorado southward. Spends winters north to the desert regions of the southern U.S. Preferred habitats include deserts and scrublands.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"queat-queat", "toodle-oodle-oodle"

Interesting Facts

The Black-throated Sparrow is also known as the Desert Sparrow, due to its preferred habitat of arid desert scrub. They can survive long periods of time without water, obtaining moisture from the seeds and insects that make up their diet.

The start of the breeding season is determined by the onset of midsummer rains in the desert, with second broods common in years with plentiful rainfall. Nests started later in the season have a greater chance of being parasitized by Bronzed and Brown-headed Cowbirds

Altered fire regimes have caused declining habitat quality throughout their range. Frequent, cool-burning fires produce the best combination of open areas and short shrubs, but fires are now both less frequent and hotter.

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

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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.

Black-throated Sparrow

● Song: "queat-queat", "toodle-oodle-oodle"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-throated Sparrow: Feeds on seeds during winter and insects during breeding season. Also consumes grass and herbs. Gravel is sometimes ingested to aid in digestion; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-throated Sparrow: Two to four white or light blue eggs are laid in a loosely built nest made of bark strips, grass, and stems, lined with wool, hair, or feathers, and built in a thorny bush. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Black-throated Sparrow: Sage and Five-striped sparrows have white throats.

Flight Pattern

Short flights with rapidly beating wings.

Black-throated Sparrow Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Black-throated Sparrow: Breeds from northeastern California, southwestern Wyoming, and southeastern Colorado southward. Spends winters north to the desert regions of the southern U.S. Preferred habitats include deserts and scrublands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

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

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Eyebrow

Also called the supercilicum or superciliary it is the arch of feathers over each eye.

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