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Length: 5? inches Large, conical bill Large, flat head Short tail Orange face surrounding gray cheek Orange throat Gray crown and nape Buffy breast and sides with indistinct streaks White belly and undertail coverts | Length: 5? inches Large, conical bill Large, flat head Short tail Orange face surrounding gray cheek Orange throat Gray crown and nape Buffy breast and sides with indistinct streaks White belly and undertail coverts | ||
| − | Brown wing coverts Dark and light streaking on back Juvenile plumage (Summer, sometimes Fall) similar to adult but has buffier underparts with less streaking and browner, not gray, upperparts. A short-tailed sparrow with a large, flat head and large bill. Its face and throat is orange, contrasting with a gray cheek, crown, and nape. Breast and sides are buffy; the belly is white. Dark/light streaking pattern on back. Sexes are similar. Compare with very similar appearing Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow. | + | Brown wing coverts Dark and light streaking on back Juvenile plumage (Summer, sometimes Fall) similar to adult but has buffier underparts with less streaking and browner, not gray, upperparts. A short-tailed sparrow with a large, flat head and large bill. Its face and throat is orange, contrasting with a gray cheek, crown, and nape. Breast and sides are buffy; the belly is white. Dark/light streaking pattern on back. Sexes are similar. Compare with very similar appearing [[Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow]]. |
Revision as of 08:46, 17 August 2007
- Ammodramus nelsoni
Identification
Photographed: Galveston, Texas, USA.
Length: 5? inches Large, conical bill Large, flat head Short tail Orange face surrounding gray cheek Orange throat Gray crown and nape Buffy breast and sides with indistinct streaks White belly and undertail coverts Brown wing coverts Dark and light streaking on back Juvenile plumage (Summer, sometimes Fall) similar to adult but has buffier underparts with less streaking and browner, not gray, upperparts. A short-tailed sparrow with a large, flat head and large bill. Its face and throat is orange, contrasting with a gray cheek, crown, and nape. Breast and sides are buffy; the belly is white. Dark/light streaking pattern on back. Sexes are similar. Compare with very similar appearing Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Distribution
Unusual breeding range made up of three well-separated populations. One interior population breeds from northern Alberta and British Columbia southeast to Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, North and South Dakota, and east to northwestern Minnesota. A second population breeds along the coast of southern Hudson Bay and James Bay while a third population breeds along the Atlantic Coast from southern Maine north through the Canadian Maritimes to Quebec. Winters along the coast from New Jersey south to Florida and along the Gulf Coast to southern Texas. Trend information is difficult to obtain because of the inaccessibility of much of the species habitat, the unusual breeding range, and the fact that the species was only recently given official species level recognition from Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Found in marshes and occasionally fields (migration) Until recently, considered conspecific with Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Inland populations prefers wet meadows, peatbogs, lakesides with emergent vegetation, native prairie, abandoned fields, and planted cover, although use of these habitats may vary depending upon moisture conditions. Atlantic Coast populations use tidal saltmarsh habitats.
Behaviour
Nest is cup-shaped and made of dry grass, lined with finer grasses. It is built on the ground or just above the waterline in marshes. They nest from June through July, sometimes in loose colonies. Diet consists of seeds, insects, and small, aquatic invertebrates.
