General

Black-throated Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with gray-brown upperparts, unstreaked, white underparts, and a black bib. Head has dark gray cap and sharply contrasting white eyebrow and cheek stripe. Long, round-tipped tail is edged with white. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has streaked upper breast and lacks black bib.

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.

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.

Author

Gary Owen Dick