White-crowned Sparrow

Zonotrichia leucophrys

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family EMBERIZIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

Elegantly marked in gray, brown, black, and white, the White-crowned Sparrow is one of the best-studied songbirds in North America. Much of our knowledge of bird song and development is based on studies of this species.

Cool Facts

• Four of the five subspecies of White-crowned Sparrows are migratory. The sedentary race lives in a very narrow band along the California coast. The most widespread race, breeding across northern Canada and wintering in the eastern United States, is the least-studied and least well known of all the races.

• A young male White-crowned Sparrow learns the basics of the song it will sing as an adult during the first two or three months of its life. It does not learn directly from its father, but rather from the generalized song environment of its natal neighborhood.

• Because male White-crowned Sparrows learn the songs they grew up with and do not travel far from where they were raised, song dialects frequently form. Males on the edge of two dialects may be bilingual and able to sing both dialects.

Description

• Size: 15-16 cm (6-6 in)
• Wingspan: 21-24 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 25-28 g (0.88-0.99 ounces)

• Large sparrow, small songbird.
• Top of head with two broad black stripes, separated by a broad white crown stripe.
• Eyebrow stripe white, bordered in front by black crown stripe.

• Narrow black line extending from eye to back of nape.
• Rest of face, sides of neck and breast gray.
• Paler on throat and belly.
• Back and wing light gray streaked with brown.
• Rump pale brown.
• Wings with two white wingbars.
• Bill pinkish brown to yellowish.
• Legs brown to pink.
• Eyes dark.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, males slightly larger.

Immature

Juvenile with crown stripes brown and buff, breast and belly buff streaked with black. First winter like adult except crown stripes brown and buff, not black and white.

Similar Species

• White-throated Sparrow with bright white throat, yellow lores, more brown than gray.
• Golden-crowned Sparrow without white on head, yellow central crown stripe. First winter Golden-crowned very similar to first winter White-crowned, but usually has some yellow on the forehead.

Sound

Song a series of clear whistles followed by buzzes or trills on different pitches.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska eastward across northern Canada, and southward along Pacific Coast and in the western mountains to southern California and northern New Mexico.

Winter Range

Winters from southern British Columbia eastward to southern Michigan and southern New York, southward to the Gulf Coast and central Mexico.

Habitat

• Breeds in tundra, boreal forest, and alpine meadows over most of range.
• On West Coast is found in suburban areas and near the ocean in areas with bare ground and shrubs.

Food

Seeds, buds, arthropods.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds primarily on ground. Scratches in litter with both feet. Some hawking of insects from perch.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest an open cup of small sticks, bark, grass, pine needles, or dry leaves, lined with fine grass stems, sedge and hair. Nest placed in shrubs or on ground.

Egg Description

Greenish blue with reddish brown spots.

Clutch Size

3-7 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with little down.

Conservation Status

May be declining in some areas in western United States.

Other Names

Bruant à couronne blanche (French)
Zacatero mixto (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Chilton, G., M. C. Baker, C. D. Barrentine, and M. A. Cunningham. 1995. White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys). In The Birds of North America, No. 183 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.