Adult. Photo: Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren/Flickr (CC BY-2.0)
Centronyx henslowii
| Conservation status | Has declined seriously in much of its former range, should be considered threatened. Loss of proper habitat is likely cause; habitat requirements are still not thoroughly understood. |
|---|---|
| Family | New World Sparrows |
| Habitat | Weedy fields. Requirements not well understood; often absent from seemingly suitable habitat. Breeds in fields and meadows, often in low-lying or damp areas, with tall grass, standing dead weeds, and scattered shrubs. Sometimes in old pastures, occasionally in hayfields. Winters in various kinds of rank weedy fields. |
Apparently does all of its foraging on the ground. Almost always forages alone, not associating in flocks with its own kind or other sparrows.
3-5. Whitish to pale greenish-white, with reddish-brown and gray spots concentrated toward the larger end. Incubation is by female only, about 11 days. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 9-10 days after hatching.
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 9-10 days after hatching.
Mostly insects and seeds. Summer diet is mainly insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, stink bugs, caterpillars, small wasps, and many others, also some spiders and snails. Many seeds are also eaten, and probably make up the majority of the winter diet; included are seeds of weeds, grasses, and sedges.
May breed in small, loose colonies, which change in location from year to year; territories within these colonies are often separated by unoccupied ground, so there is little conflict among the birds. Males perch on exposed weeds to deliver their short, inconspicuous song. Courtship may involve male leading female to potential nest sites, carrying bits of grass in his bill. Nest site is on or near the ground, very well hidden. Usually placed in the base of a clump of grass, sometimes in a slight depression in the ground, occasionally more than a foot up among vertical stems. Ground nests often have grass partly arched over them, adding to concealment. Nest (built mostly by female) is an open cup of grass and weeds, lined with finer grass and sometimes with 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.
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