Zonotrichia querula
1st-winter
Harris’s Sparrow is a plump, boldly marked bird with a distinctive pink bill. The sexes are similar. Summer adults have a dark-streaked buffish-brown back and brown wings with two white wingbars. The face is mainly gray and the head is otherwise adorned with a black crown, ear covert patch, face, throat, and bib. Typically, the bib is larger in males than females and gets more extensive with age. The underparts are otherwise whitish with dark streaks on the flanks. Winter adults are similar but the face is buffish brown, not gray, and the crown is speckled. Juveniles are similar but have no black on the face, and the breast and flanks are streaked brown. By their first winter, they have acquired a hint of an adult’s black face markings, although the throat is white and the breast is streaked.
Harris’s Sparrow is restricted as a breeding species to central northernmost Canada, where it is present mainly from May to September. It migrates south in fall and in winter it occurs in the Great Plains region. Outside the breeding season it forms flocks and often mixes with other sparrow species.
adult
FACT FILE
LENGTH 7.5 in (19 cm)
FOOD Mainly seeds, with invertebrates in spring and summer
HABITAT Stunted boreal forests in summer; scrubby woodland and brush in winter
STATUS Very locally common, both in summer and winter
VOICE Song is a series of penetrating whistles. Call is a sharp twink
