Black-throated sparrow

Black-throated sparrow
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Emberizidae
Genus:	Amphispiza
Species:	A. bilineata
Binomial name
Amphispiza bilineata (Cassin, 1850)

The black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) is a small American sparrow primarily found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is sometimes referred to as the desert sparrow, due to its preferred habitat of arid desert hillsides and scrub. This name usually refers to the desert sparrow of Africa and Asia.

The black-throated sparrow reaches a length of about 4.5–5.5 inches (11–14 cm), and is pale gray above, with a distinctive black and white head pattern. Immature birds are similar but lack a black throat. Its call is high and bell-like, and its song is a fairly simple, mechanical tinkling. It feeds primarily on insects and seeds, and travels in small groups, though larger groups may accumulate around sources of water in the desert.

It has a loose nest of grass twigs and plant fibers carefully hidden in brush 6–18 inches (15–46 cm) above the ground. Three or four white or pale blue eggs are laid.

References

• David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. ISBN 0-679-45121-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amphispiza bilineata.

• Black-throated sparrow - Amphispiza bilineata - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Black-throated sparrow species account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology