Species: Amphispiza belli

Sage Sparrow

Species

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Species of concern in the Puget Sound watershed

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Gray-brown head, white eye ring, white lore spot or eyebrow, and broad white whisker stripe above a dark whisker stripe; back is buffy brown with dusky streaks; two pale wing bars (not conspicuous); underparts are white, with a central dark spot and dusky streaks on the sides; juveniles are duller and more heavily streaked, and the lore spot sometimes is indistinct (NGS 1983). Subspecies BELLI of western California is smaller and darker than are subspecies CANESCENS and NEVADENSIS (Johnson and Marten 1992).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Emberizidae

Genus

Amphispiza

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104426

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Bruant de Bell - Zacatonero de Artemisa

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Emberizidae - Amphispiza - Composed of two groups which may represent distinct species: NEVADENSIS (Sage Sparrow) and BELLI (Bell's Sparrow) (AOU 1998). Johnson and Marten (1992) documented morphological, genetic, and ecological differences among subspecies CANESCENS, BELLI, and NEVADENSIS. They found that CANESCENS averages larger than BELLI in several morphometric characters and that CANESCENS and BELLI, though genetically closely related, are 100% separable on the basis of plumage coloration alone. Previously published reports of intergradation were shown to be incorrect. Also, post-nesting CANESCENS move into the active breeding range of BELLI but the two forms do not interbreed. All data indicated that CANESCENS and BELLI are reproductively isolated. Johnson and Marten noted that further study is needed before the absence of interbreeding can be regarded as firmly established. Johnson and Marten (1992) determined that subspecies CANESCENS and NEVADENSIS are strongly differentiated both morphologically and genetically; they found no evidence of intergradation and noted that Johnson was studying the possible biological species status of the two forms.

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A small songbird (sparrow).

Migration

true - true - true - Forms flocks of 25-50 individuals in winter. Northern breeding populations are long-distance migrants, arrive in northern part of breeding range February-March. Migrations are more localized in the southwestern part of the range. Populations from the foothills of the Coast Ranges and the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California (subspecies BELLI) are essentially sedentary (Johnson and Marten 1992). Populations in the San Joaquin Valley and northern Mojave Desert (subspecies CANESCENS) are migratory; after early spring breeding, they migrate uphill in late spring into the nesting range of BELLI; in late summer and fall, they descend and spread southward and eastward to wintering grounds (Johnson and Marten 1992). Subspecies NEVADENSIS vacates most or all of its breeding range for winter (Johnson and Marten 1992).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Feeds on insects, spiders and seeds (especially in the winter). Runs along the ground stopping to pick up food. Lepidoptera, Araneae, Hemiptera, Homoptera, Diptera, and Orthoptera observed prey in southeastern Idaho (Peterson and Best 1986).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size usually is three to four, sometimes five. Incubation lasts about 13 days. Nestlings are altricial. Individual females produce one to three broods annually. Reproductive success is greater in wetter years (Rotenberry and Wiens 1991).

Ecology Comments

Breeding territory size usually averages about 1.5-3 hectares (Wiens et al. 1985). Territory size can vary with plant community composition and structure, increasing with horizontal patchiness (see Wiens et al. 1985); also positively correlated with reproductive success (Peterson and Best 1987b). In Great Basin, density usually 50-200 per square kilometer (Rotenberry and Wiens 1989).

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1999-11-20

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: central Washington, eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, southwestern Wyoming, and northwestern Colorado south to southern California, central Baja California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico (AOU 1983, Martin and Carlson 1998). NON-BREEDING: central California, central Nevada, southwestern Utah, northern Arizona, and central New Mexico south to central Baja California, northwestern mainland of Mexico, and western Texas (AOU 1983, Martin and Carlson 1998). Sedentary subspecies BELLI: foothills of the West coast (northern California to northwestern Baja California) and the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada in California (Johnson and Marten 1992). Subspecies CANESCENS: breeds in the San Joaquin Valley and northern Mohave Desert in California and extreme western Nevada, winters in the southwestern U.S. (Johnson and Marten 1992). Subspecies NEVADENSIS: breeds from central interior Washington eastward to southwestern Wyoming and northwestern Colorado, south to east-central California, central Nevada, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico; winters in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico (Johnson and Marten 1992).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104426