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Lark Sparrow

Chondestes grammacusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Lark Sparrow Breeding Male Portrait
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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

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Range Map for Lark 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 Chondestes grammacus
Length5.75 - 6.75 Inches
Wingspan10.75 Inches

Lark Sparrow

Lark Sparrow: Medium 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. Short, fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "tik"

● Foraging & Feeding: Lark Sparrow: Eats seeds, grasshoppers, and other insects; forages on the ground and low in trees and shrubs, usually in flocks, even during breeding season.

● Breeding & nesting: Lark Sparrow: Three to six white to pale gray eggs marked with brown and black are laid on the ground or low in a bush or tree in a bulky cup nest made of sticks, grass, and forbs, and lined with rootlets and grass. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Lark Sparrow: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Fluttering wing beats., Alternates several rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
Lark Sparrow Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & 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.
BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies, Some polygamous
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight1 Ounces