Immature. Photo: Mike Charest
Zonotrichia querula
| Conservation status | Common within its range, numbers apparently stable. Breeding range is mostly remote from effects of human activity. |
|---|---|
| Family | New World Sparrows |
| Habitat | Stunted boreal forest; in winter, brush, open woods. Breeds in the zone where northern forest gives way to tundra, in areas with mixture of stunted spruce or larch trees, shrubby thickets, and open tundra. During migration and winter, found in thickets, woodland edges, brushy fields, hedgerows, shelterbelts. |
Forages mostly while hopping on ground, sometimes scratching in leaf-litter with feet. Also does some foraging up in bushes.
3-5, usually 4. Pale green, marked with brown. Incubation is by female only, 12-15 days. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave nest about 8-10 days after hatching, unable to fly until a few days later. 1 brood per year.
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave nest about 8-10 days after hatching, unable to fly until a few days later. 1 brood per year.
Mostly seeds, insects, berries. Diet varies with season, may include more seeds in winter, berries in late spring after arrival on breeding grounds, insects during summer nesting season. Items important at some seasons include seeds of weeds and grasses, fruits of crowberry and bearberry, and various beetles, flies, caterpillars, true bugs, and other insects, as well as spiders. Also eats some flowers and conifer needles.
Male defends nesting territory by singing and by actively chasing intruding males. Pairs form quickly after arrival on breeding grounds, soon after territories established. Nest site is on ground, usually on small hummock, well hidden under dwarf birch, alder, spruce, or other shrub or low tree. Typically in shallow depression scraped out in moss or other ground cover, sometimes placed under overhang of rock or soil. Nest (probably built by female) is a cup of moss, lichens, twigs, lined with fine grass and sometimes animal hair.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
Also this month: How did the Harris's Sparrow get its name? And what's the difference between a beak and a bill?
Funding to maintain protected areas across Canada will help safeguard boreal birds for years to come.
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