Black-throated sparrow

Black-throated sparrow
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Passerellidae
Genus:	Amphispiza Coues, 1874
Species:	A. bilineata
Binomial name
Amphispiza bilineata (Cassin, 1850)

The black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) is a small New World sparrow primarily found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is the only member of the genus Amphispiza; the five-striped sparrow, formerly also classified in Amphispiza, is now thought to be in the monotypic genus Amphispizopsis.^[2]

It is sometimes referred to as the desert sparrow, due to its preferred habitat of arid desert hillsides and scrub. This name usually refers to the desert sparrow of Africa and Asia.

Description

Measurements:^[3]

• Length: 4.7–5.5 in (12–14 cm)
• Weight: 0.4–0.5 oz (11–14 g)
• Wingspan: 7.7 inches (20 cm)

The black-throated sparrow is pale gray above, with a distinctive black and white head pattern. Immature birds are similar but lack a black throat. Its call is high and bell-like, and its song is a fairly simple, mechanical tinkling. It feeds primarily on insects and seeds, and travels in small groups, though larger groups may accumulate around sources of water in the desert.

It has a loose nest of grass twigs and plant fibers carefully hidden in brush 6–18 inches (15–46 cm) above the ground. Three or four white or pale blue eggs are laid.

Diet

The black-throated sparrow's diet consists of bugs during the mating season and seeds during the non-breeding season.^{[citation needed]} They mainly forage on the ground around bushes and cacti and sometimes glean food from leaves and twigs.^{[citation needed]}

References

• David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. ISBN 0-679-45121-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amphispiza bilineata.