Species: Zonotrichia querula

Harris's 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

Zonotrichia

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101459

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Harris' Sparrow - bruant à face noire

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Emberizidae - Zonotrichia - Mitochondrial DNA data indicate that relative to most congeneric avian comparisons, the five species of ZONOTRICHIA are closely related (Zink et al. 1991).

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A bird (sparrow).

Migration

false - false - true - Migrates mainly at night in flocks (Norment and Shackleton 1993). Early spring migrants begin moving northward in late February and early March, but large numbers do not move until late April or May (Baumgartner 1968). Generally arrive on breeding grounds in late May, but arrival dates vary with weather (Norment and Shackleton 1993, Semple and Sutton 1932). Males and females arrive simultaneously (Norment 1992). Leave breeding grounds in late August and early September and arrive on wintering grounds from mid-November through mid-December (Bridgwater 1966, Graul 1967, Norment and Shackleton 1993, Swenk and Stevens 1929).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Feeds primarily on the ground, scratching and kicking away ground litter with its feet; forages less frequently among branches of trees (Nice 1929, Semple and Sutton 1932). BREEDING: Stomach contents of six individuals was 66 percent plant material and 34 percent animal material. Plant foods included seeds of grasses, sedges (CAREX spp., CYPERUS spp.), bulrushes (SCIRPUS spp.), birch (BETULA spp.), pigweed (AMARANTHUS spp.), and lamb's-quarters (CHENOPODIUM spp.); fruits of blueberry (VACCINIUM spp.), crowberry, and bearberry (ARCTOSTAPHYLOS UVA-URSI); and oats (spilled on nearby railroad tracks). The six stomachs also contained grit and the remains of insects (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Homoptera), spiders and snails (Semple and Sutton 1932). Based on foraging observations of adults and analysis of 18 stomachs of adults, persistent fruits (ARCTOSTAPHYLOS ALPINA, E. NIGRUM, VACCINIUM VITIS-IDAEA, VACCINIUM ULIGINOSUM) comprised most of the diet prior to nesting (82 percent of foraging observations) and arthropods comprised most of the diet during the nestling period (72.5 percent of observations). Arthropods comprised 81.5 percent of the diet of nestlings Norment and Fuller 1997). NON-BREEDING: In Oklahoma, food includes seeds of sunflower and pigweed (AMARANTHUS spp.), poison-ivy berries (RHUS TOXICODENDRON), elm blossoms (ULMUS spp.) and weed seeds (Bridgwater 1966, Nice 1929). In Kansas, consumed grit from the roads (Graul 1967). Based on the dissection of 100 stomachs collected from Texas through Saskatchewan, the winter diet is 92 percent plant material and 8 percent animal material. Winter plant foods include seeds of ragweed (AMBROSIA spp.), knotweed (POLYGONUM spp.), pigweed, lamb's-quarters, gromwell (LITHOSPERMUM spp.), sunflowers, bluestem (ANDROPOGON spp.), crabgrass (DIGITARIA spp.), foxtail (SETARIA spp.), and Johnson grass (SORGHUM spp.). Also consumes wild fruits, waste corn, wheat, and oats. Winter animal foods include insects (principally leafhoppers), spiders and snails (Judd 1901 cited in Swenk and Stevens 1929). Stomach contents of five birds collected in fall was 99 percent plant and 1 percent animal matter, 75 specimens collected in winter consumed 94 percent plant and 6 percent animal material, and 21 spring-collected individuals consumed 80 percent plant and 25 percent animal material. Plant foods include seeds of ragweed, knotweed, foxtail, lamb's-quarters, panic grass (PANICUM spp.), timothy (PHLEUM spp.). Also waste corn, wheat, and oats. Animal foods include insects (especially leafhoppers), spiders and snails (Martin et al. 1951).

Reproduction Comments

In the Northwest Territories, most nests are initiated during the second or third week in June, after the breeding habitat is at least 60 percent snow-free (Norment 1992). Only females build nests, incubate and brood young; both sexes feed young (Norment 1992, 1993). The incubation period is 12-13.5 days (mean = 12.8) and the nestling period is 8.5-10 days (mean = 9.2). Incubation extends through the first week of July, with hatching occurring in late June and early July, and fledging in early to mid-July (Norment 1992). Average clutch size for 155 clutches summarized by Norment (1992) is 4.07 eggs (range = three to five). Hatching among nests is relatively synchronous. In the Northwest Territories, the hatching rate was 76 percent, fledging rate was 62.5 percent, and overall nest success was 47.5 percent. The number of young fledged per pair was 2.07. Nest failure was due principally to predation (30 percent; Norment 1992). Successful nests are concealed in denser vegetation with thicker cover than depredated nests (Norment 1993). In Manitoba, hatching success of eggs was 89 percent (Jehl 1971) and the average nestling period was 8.9 days (Norment and Shackleton 1993). Lost clutches may be replaced (Norment 1992).

Ecology Comments

Age at first breeding is unknown, but is probably one year as in other ZONOTRICHIA (Norment, pers. comm.). Longevity record is 11 years, 8 months (Norment and Shackleton 1993). Densities of breeding populations are estimated to be 0.025 territorial males per hectare, and 0.125-0.82 breeding pairs per hectare (Gillespie and Kendeigh 1982, Norment 1992, Norment and Shackleton 1993). The maximum number observed during a Christmas Bird Count was 26.1 birds per party hour (Root 1988). Numbers observed at particular localities during winter varies within and among years because birds frequently shift locations (Graul 1967). The sex ratio on the breeding grounds is 1:1 (Norment 1992). In the Northwest Territories, overall return rate for banded birds (both sexes) to the breeding grounds was 38 percent. Males and females that nest successfully usually return to the same breeding area in subsequent years; some unsuccessful breeders also exhibit site fidelity. Males sometimes occupy the same nesting territory in different years, but females apparently do not (Norment 1994). Territories averaged 2 hectares, but birds foraged up to 500 meters outside territories (Norment 1992).

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-04

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDING: northwestern and east-central Mackenzie and southern Keewatin south to northeastern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario (Norment and Shackleton 1993, AOU 1998). NON-BREEDING: primarily northern Nebraska, South Dakota, and central Iowa south to south-central Texas, but also regularly north to southeastern Alaska, southern British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, northeastern Saskatchewan and North Dakota, west to southern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, southern Arizona, and southern New Mexico, and east to western Tennessee, Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana (Norment and Shackleton 1993, AOU 1998).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101459