Species: Pooecetes gramineus

Vesper Sparrow

Species

Birds

Show on Lists

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Emberizidae

Genus

Pooecetes

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103115

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Gorrión Cola Blanca - bruant vespéral

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Emberizidae - Pooecetes

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A songbird (sparrow).

Migration

false - false - true - This species migrates in flocks (25-30 or fewer), arrives in nesting areas in the northern U.S. and southern Canada in March-April (Terres 1980).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Feeds on seeds, waste grain, and insects. Forages on the ground; sometimes takes food items from low foliage. Forages along fencerows, in weedy areas, etc. In North Dakota, grasshoppers were the principal food brought to week-old nestlings (Adams et al. 1994).

Reproduction Comments

In Iowa, began establishing territories in second week of April. Clutch size usually is 3-5, sometimes 6. Both sexes (usually female) may incubate eggs for 11-13 days. Young leave nest 7-12 days after hatching. Individual females generally produce 2-3 broods per year.

Ecology Comments

In Iowa, average territory size was 2.34 ha (Rodenhouse and Best 1994).

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2009-03-19

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 range extends primarily from east-central and southern British Columbia eastward across southern Canada to Nova Scotia, and south to eastern and southern California, central Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois, Tennessee, and North Carolina (Jones and Cornely 2002). Winter range extends across the southern United States from central California to South Carolina, and south to southern Baja California, southern Oaxaca, southern Tamaulipas, U.S. Gulf Coast, and Florida, with much smaller numbers wintering in areas farther north and south (Jones and Cornely 2002).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

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

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103115