White-crowned sparrow

Language English

Onglets

Description

Distinguishing features

This bird may be distinguished from the white-throated sparrow (which also has a black and white crown) by its slightly larger size and paler, rosy or yellowish bill, and by the absence of both a yellow spot between its bill and eye and a sharply defined white spot on its throat. The male and female are similar in appearance.

Reproduction

The nest is built by the female, hidden on the ground at the base of a shrub. The female generally lays 4 eggs, which take about 12 days to hatch. Both adults care for the young, with the male doing slightly more of the work. The species is essentially monogamous.

Diet

They eat insects, seeds and berries.

Predators

The adults may be hunted by shrikes and diurnal raptors (hawks, falcons and kestrels). Blue jays, raccoons and snakes may eat the eggs.

Habitat

White-crowned sparrows are essentially a northern species. In Québec, they live in the taiga and tundra and in some parts of the middle and lower North Shore. They winter on the west coast, from southern British Columbia to central Mexico and throughout the central and southern United States, except Florida.

Ecology, behaviour

Adult birds sound the alarm loudly whenever an intruder approaches the nest. During the nestling period, they may also pretend to have a broken wing. If a female is disturbed while she is incubating her eggs, she will run off into the grass very quietly, so as not to attract the intruder's attention.

French name

Bruant à couronne blanche

Scientific name

Zonotrichia leucophrys

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Birds

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Fringillidae

Size

Length: 16.5 to 19 cm

Weight

Average: 29.4 g

Life span

Record: 13 years 4 months

Status

Least Concern (IUCN). Abundant nesting bird.

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