Botteri's Sparrow

Aimophila botteriiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

General

Botteri's Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with brown-streaked, gray upperparts and pale gray underparts. Bill is gray. Wings are tinged rust-brown. Tail is gray-brown, long, and round-tipped. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is pale brown with dark streaks and pink-gray bill.

Range and Habitat

Botteri's Sparrow: Breeds in southeastern Arizona and southern Texas. Spends winters south of U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include open arid country such as grasslands, savannas, and desert-scrub.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chick"

Interesting Facts

The Botteri’s Sparrow was named after ornithologist Matteo Botteri, who in 1957 collected the bird in Mexico.

They were probably more widespread during the nineteenth century, but overgrazing during the 1880s and 1890s eliminated most suitable habitats, and probably significantly reduced the breeding population.

They prefer ungrazed or lightly grazed grasslands; heavier grazing creates vegetation that is too low or weedy, and a decline in grasshoppers, which are a major prey item.

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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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.

Botteri's Sparrow

Botteri's Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with brown-streaked, gray upperparts and pale gray underparts. Bill is gray. Wings are tinged rust-brown. Tail is gray-brown, long, and round-tipped. Short flights with rapidly beating wing strokes alternating with wings pulled briefly to sides.

● Song: "chick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Botteri's Sparrow: Eats insects and seeds; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Botteri's Sparrow: Two to five pale blue eggs are laid in a nest made of grass and rootlets, lined with finer materials, and built on the ground or in a grassy tussock, usually sheltered by tall grass or a shrub. Incubation ranges from 12 to14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Botteri's Sparrow: Cassin's Sparrow has white tips on outer tail feathers. Grasshopper Sparrow is chunkier with buff underparts and buff streaks on upperparts.

Flight Pattern

Short flights on rapidly beating wings alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.

Botteri's Sparrow Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Botteri's Sparrow: Breeds in southeastern Arizona and southern Texas. Spends winters south of U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include open arid country such as grasslands, savannas, and desert-scrub.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationYes but uncommon

^MigrationSome migrate

^Weight0.7 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America