Adult male. Photo: Julie Torkomian/Audubon Photography Awards
Passerina ciris
| Conservation status | Surveys show declining numbers in recent decades. Nests are frequently parasitized by cowbirds. Often captured and kept as a cagebird on wintering grounds in tropics. |
|---|---|
| Family | Cardinals, Grosbeaks and Buntings |
| Habitat | Woodland edges, roadsides, brush, towns, gardens. Favors semi-open areas with dense low growth at all seasons. Breeds around thickets, hedgerows, woodland clearings and edges, and undergrowth of open woods. Winters in similar habitats in Florida, plus areas of scrub and second growth in the tropics. |
Forages mostly on the ground. Also does some foraging up in shrubs and low trees. During migration, may forage in mixed flocks with Indigo Buntings.
3-4, sometimes 5. Whitish to bluish white or pale gray, with reddish brown spots often concentrated at larger end. Incubation is by female only, 11-12 days. Young: Nestlings are fed by the female. Young leave the nest about 12-14 days after hatching, and male may take over feeding them if female begins second nesting attempt. 2 broods per year, sometimes 3, perhaps rarely 4.
Nestlings are fed by the female. Young leave the nest about 12-14 days after hatching, and male may take over feeding them if female begins second nesting attempt. 2 broods per year, sometimes 3, perhaps rarely 4.
Mostly seeds and insects. Reported to feed mainly on seeds, primarily those of grasses and weeds; sometimes eats berries and fruits. Also eats many insects, including beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, flies, and others. Probably eats more insects in early summer, and feeds them to its young.
To defend territory, male sings from a raised perch, often partly hidden among foliage near treetop. Males will also engage in serious physical fights, probably in disputes over territorial boundaries. One male may have more than one mate. Nest: Placed in dense bushes, vines, or low in trees, usually 3-9' above the ground, sometimes higher. Nest (built by female) is open cup woven of grass, weeds, leaves, lined with fine grass, rootlets, and 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.
In Texas, Audubon nature centers had to re-invent their engagement strategies to reach the communities around them, and found a whole new audience in the process.
Birds, the Trinity River Audubon Center, and nature provide stability for me when everything else feels so changeable.
In the first peer-reviewed study of its kind, participants in Audubon’s Climate Watch program helped determine the ongoing impact of climate change to bluebirds and nuthatches.
Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news.
Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.
Membership benefits include one year of Audubon magazine and the latest on birds and their habitats. Your support helps secure a future for birds at risk.
Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives.
