Black-chinned Sparrow - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Raul Padilla
Ajacuba,, Mexico, August 2010

Spizella atrogularis

Identification

Medium sized sparrow
Plain, dark gray with brown-streaked back
Pale gray belly
Black chin
Pale eyestripe
Pink bill
Yellowish-gray legs and feet

Distribution

S. a. Caurina
Photo © by Joseph Morlan
Mount Diablo State Park, Contra Costa County, California, USA, 25 May 2021

Breeds from south central California east to southern Nevada and southwest Utah, south to Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, and Mexico. Spends winters from coastal California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, south into Baja California and Mexico.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

This is a polytypic species, consisting of four subspecies^[1]:

S. a. evura:

South-eastern California to northern Nevada, south-western Utah, Arizona, western Texas and northern Sonora

S. a. caurina:

Coastal central California (Contra Costa to San Benito counties)

S. a. cana:

Interior coastal mountains of California (Monterey) to northern Baja

S. a. atrogularis:

Central plateau of Mexico (Durango to western Nuevo Leon and southern Oaxaca)

Habitat

In desert areas they can be found in tall, dense sagebrush or other brushlands; in the far west, though, are more likely to be seen in dry chaparral with a variety of shrubs and scrub oak.

Behaviour

Forages in brush and on ground.

Flight Action

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

Vocalisation

Trill of sweet-sweet-swee-iiiiii-r.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Black-chinned Sparrow - Whatbird.com
Tenney, C. R. (2020). Black-chinned Sparrow (Spizella atrogularis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bkcspa.01

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-chinned Sparrow. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-chinned_Sparrow

External Links

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