Spizella atrogularis
male
The Black-chinned Sparrow is a well-marked songbird with a pink bill. The sexes are subtly dissimilar in summer. Breeding adult males have a streaked reddish-brown back, and reddish-brown wings with two indistinct wingbars. The rump is a paler gray than the tail. The head has a black throat and lores, and the plumage is otherwise gray except for the white undertail. Breeding adult females are similar but the face is gray, not black. At other times, all birds are similar to an adult breeding female. Juveniles are similar to a winter adult but with faint streaking on the underparts.
The Black-chinned Sparrow is present as a breeding species in southwest U.S.A. mainly from May to August. Outside the breeding season birds move south, mainly to Mexico, although small numbers winter, or are present year-round, in border regions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The species is easiest to see in spring, when males sometimes sing from exposed perches.
female
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5.75 in (14.5 cm)
FOOD Mainly seeds, with invertebrates in spring and summer
HABITAT Arid, scrub-covered rocky slopes
STATUS Locally common summer visitor
VOICE Song starts with a slow, whistled tsweet-err-tsweet . . . , then speeds up and ends in a trill. Call is a thin tsik
