Rate of Decline: 63 percent in 40 years
Global Population: 7.4 million
Continental Population: 7.4 million now, 20 million 40 years ago
Watch List Status: 
Appearance: A brown bird with distinctive markings on the head and tail. The head features chestnut, black, and white stripes and a chestnut ear-patch; the tail is black with large, white outer corners.
Vocalization: The song is long and complex with pure notes, buzzy notes, and trills.
Listen (© Lang Elliot, Nature Sound Studio).
Habitat: Prefers grassy habitats with scattered trees or shrubs, including sagebrush, park-like settings, and open deciduous savannas.
Range: Breeds from interior southwestern Canada south to northern Mexico and from Illinois west to California; winters primarily in Mexico, Texas, California, southern Arizona, and New Mexico, but stragglers are often found in other parts of the breeding range during warm winters.
Feeding: Forages on the ground for insects during the breeding season, and gleans mostly for seeds during the non-breeding season. During cold snaps, the Lark Sparrow consumes only seeds, as insects become much scarcer.
Reproduction: Exhibits unique passerine courtship behavior, including the passing of a twig between male and female during mating. The nest site is usually on poor/sandy soils, although unusual places such as dead tree cavities and fencepost hollows are also sometimes used. Frequently has second broods, and the clutch size range is 3-6 eggs.
Conservation Issues & Efforts:
- Threats: In the eastern part of its range, the Lark Sparrow is threatened by agricultural intensification and suburbanization, much like the Northern Bobwhite. In the western part of the range, major problems include inappropriate fire (too frequent or not frequent enough), non-native, invasive annual plants (e.g. cheatgrass), grasshopper control activities, and mining/drilling activities.
- Outlook: The Lark Sparrow’s long-term survival is not in significant danger. But the fact that its population has experienced such a steep decline in four decades indicates that humans are having a serious impact on habitats within its range. Lark Sparrows and many other birds do well on well-managed ranches.
What Can You Do:
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Preserve Farmlands
Promote strong conservation provisions in the federal farm bill, especially the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which pays farmers to keep marginal farmlands idle and supports millions of acres of good bird habitat. Contact your county’s office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or Farm Service Agency (FSA) to find out how to increase the number of acres devoted to helping birds dependent on farmlands.
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Maintain Ranchlands
Support wildlife-friendly management of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies in the western states, including good regulations for grazing, fire, mining, and energy development. Support research and management actions against non-native, invasive plants; these actions help ranchers
and wildlife
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Stop Invasive Species
Work with county agricultural officials to help fight the spread of non-native annual grasses. Support strong federal, regional, state, and local regulations and research and management to combat non-native, invasive species.
For more Information:
References:
Kaufman, Kenn.
Guía de campo a las aves de Norteamérica. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
Martin, J.W. and J.R. Parrish (2000). Lark Sparrow (
Chondestes grammacus).
The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Birds of North America, Inc Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/Lark_Sparrow/
