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Brewer's Sparrow

Spizella breweriOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Brewer's Sparrow Portrait
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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 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.

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.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Brewer's Sparrow
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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.
Family
Species Spizella breweri
Length5.5 Inches
Wingspan8 Inches

Brewer's Sparrow

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.

● 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.
Brewer's Sparrow Body Illustration
● 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