General

Lark Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with streaked, gray-brown upperparts and buff underparts with black breast spot. Head has black, white, and chestnut-brown stripes. Tail is long and black with white edges. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is duller and has streaked breast.

Range and Habitat

Lark Sparrow: Breeds from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and northern Minnesota, south to California, northern Mexico, Louisiana, and Alabama. Spends winters from southern California to Florida and southward. Preferred habitats include grasslands, semi-open scrublands, agricultural areas, sagebrush and pinyon-juniper woodlands in lowlands and foothills.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"tik"

Interesting Facts

 Unlike many songbirds, the Lark Sparrow walks on the ground rather than hops. It hops only during courtship.

 A courting male crouches on the ground, holds his tail up at a 45 degree angle, spreads the tail feathers to show off the white tips, and struts with drooping wings, wingtips nearly touching the ground.

 They often take over old mockingbird or thrasher nests instead of building their own. The eggs and young of two species have sometimes been found in the same nest, suggesting they share the nest with the other bird.

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

Author

Gary Owen Dick