L O U I S I a N A

L O U I S I A N A SPARROWS L O U I S I A N A SPARROWS Written by Bill Fontenot and Richard DeMay Photography by Greg Lavaty and Richard DeMay Designed and Illustrated by Diane K. Baker What is a Sparrow? Generally, sparrows are characterized as New World sparrows belong to the bird small, gray or brown-streaked, conical-billed family Emberizidae. Here in North America, birds that live on or near the ground. The sparrows are divided into 13 genera, which also cryptic blend of gray, white, black, and brown includes the towhees (genus Pipilo), longspurs hues which comprise a typical sparrow’s color (genus Calcarius), juncos (genus Junco), and pattern is the result of tens of thousands of Lark Bunting (genus Calamospiza) – all of sparrow generations living in grassland and which are technically sparrows. Emberizidae is brushland habitats. The triangular or cone- a large family, containing well over 300 species shaped bills inherent to most all sparrow species are perfectly adapted for a life of granivory – of crushing and husking seeds. “Of Louisiana’s 33 recorded sparrows, Sparrows possess well-developed claws on their toes, the evolutionary result of so much time spent on the ground, scratching for seeds only seven species breed here...” through leaf litter and other duff. Additionally, worldwide, 50 of which occur in the United most species incorporate a substantial amount States on a regular basis, and 33 of which have of insect, spider, snail, and other invertebrate been recorded for Louisiana. food items into their diets, especially during Of Louisiana’s 33 recorded sparrows, Opposite page: Bachman Sparrow the spring and summer months. Most sparrow only seven species breed here: Eastern Towhee, (Greg Lavaty) species exhibit moderately strong, direct flight Bachman’s Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Field styles, with the exception of the Ammodramus Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, sparrows, which possess short wings, thin, short and Seaside Sparrow. Fourteen species migrate tails, and notably weak flight patterns. through and/or overwinter here on a regular White-crowned Sparrow (Richard DeMay) 2 3 Eastern Towhee basis: Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, nearly be considered a regularly-occurring species (Greg Lavaty) Savannah Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, LeConte’s here, as several reports are filed from Louisiana Sparrow, Nelson’s Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song each winter, most often involving birds which often Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White- remain in single locales for long periods. throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark- Here, it is appropriate to note that the eyed Junco, and Lapland Longspur. abundant and familiar House Sparrow (Passer Twelve additional species have been domesticus) is actually a member of the “Weaver Finch” family (Ploceidae), an Old World, non-native, exotic introduction into the United States, and is “Fourteen Species migrate through and/ therefore not included within this group of native North American sparrows. Due to their secretive habits and distressingly or overwinter here on a regular basis.” similar cryptic color patterns, sparrows are often overlooked or ignored by most people, including recorded here on rare/irregular occasions: Green- neophyte birders. Through a series of photographs tailed Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Cassin’s Sparrow, it is hoped that this publication will shed well- American Tree Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Lark deserved light upon Louisiana’s substantial sparrow Bunting, Baird’s Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, community. Opposite page: Nelson’s Sparrow Harris’s Sparrow, McCown’s Longspur, Smith’s (Greg Lavaty) Longspur, and Chestnut-collared Longspur. Of these, Spotted Towhee and Harris’s Sparrow can very 4 5 flush to the nearest woody vegetation (trees or Marsh habitats provide homes for several brush), where they might momentarily intermingle. species, including our native Seaside Sparrow, which Louisiana Sparrows All four of the longspur species recorded in Louisiana are short-grass dwellers, most often found in harvested agricultural fields, pastures, and short- mowed fields, including those around airports. “The majority of New World sparrow Our native Lark Sparrow is fond of flat, open expanses of pastures and harvested fields, especially those adjacent to woodland edges. Because of its species have adapted to lives spent in grassy larger size, and often solitary winter nature, this species is sometimes overlooked by field observers, and/or brushy habitats...” around the much larger numbers of Savannah and other grassland sparrows. is most often found in salt-marsh habitats nearest Overwintering Swamp Sparrows, often found to the Gulf of Mexico. The overwintering Nelson’s along the edges of hedgerows and brushlands, seem Sparrow seems most attracted to freshwater cattail also fond of foraging in pure, 3-foot tall stands of marsh pockets, including those embedded within Lark Sparrow (Greg Lavaty) broomsedge, a native grass species possessing fluffy, intermediate and even salt-marshes within the rust-colored seed heads during the winter months, coastal zone. growing commonly throughout most of Louisiana. Brush piles, comprised of bulldozed trees, Swamp Sparrows are also attracted to dense 2-foot and often overgrown with blackberry, honeysuckle tall expanses of harvested rice. During the winter and other thicket-forming shrubs and vines, have months, Swamp Sparrows are sure to be abundant proven to be excellent places to search for some in both of these habitat types, often along with the of our rarer sparrows, including Harris’s Sparrow, very secretive and cryptic Sedge Wren, and other Golden-crowned Sparrow, Green-tailed Towhee, as grassland sparrows such as the beautiful LeConte’s well as other rarities such as Bewick’s Wren and Sage Sparrow, albeit in far fewer numbers than that of the Thrasher. Another interesting setting for uncommon Swamp Sparrow The majority of New World sparrow to the more narrow, linear hedgerows bordering Swamp Sparrow. sparrows includes the modified thorn-scrub thickets (Greg Lavaty) species have adapted to lives spent in grassy and/ agricultural fields. Hedgerows in Louisiana are or brushy habitats, of which there is no shortage commonly populated with small trees such as in Louisiana. Woodlands, brushlands, woodland rough-leaf dogwood, elderberry, and prickly ash, edges, agricultural fields and hedgerows, fallow rising just above dense colonial shrub thickets fields, woody/grassy water edges, “pocket” meadows of blackberry, dewberry, American beautyberry, and prairies, and marshes are all in good supply in Japanese honeysuckle, and other shrubs and vines. our state; and so are the sparrows that fill them at White-throated Sparrows are also dwellers of dense different times each year. Consider that nearly half shrub thickets, and are often encountered in thickly- (23 of 50) of native U.S./Canadian sparrow species overgrown fence rows. either breed, overwinter, or otherwise spend varying A substantial number of Louisiana amounts of time in Louisiana on an annual basis. sparrows are grassland dwellers. Most common Field sparrows and Fox sparrows are and ubiquitous during the winter months is the dedicated brushland specialists, secreting themselves Savannah Sparrow, which readily occupies taller in very young, open-canopied forest habitats and native and non-native grassy edges of agricultural also in older, climax-type shrub-scrub habitats. fields and roadsides. Vesper Sparrows are often Such habitats include “old fields” of varying ages, found near Savannah Sparrows, but prefer to pineland cutovers, back-beach thorn-scrub along the occupy adjacent areas of close-cropped grasses and coast, and other natural settings that include large very short agricultural stubble, such as pastures, expanses of dense shrub and sapling tree thickets. and harvested fields. The harvested cotton fields Similarly, overwintering Song, Lincoln’s, of central and northern Louisiana, for example, and White-crowned sparrows appreciate dense, are excellent locales in which to look for Vesper brushy conditions, and seem especially attracted Sparrows. When disturbed, both of these species 6 7 of huisache acacia along the back-beaches of our During the winter months, a substantial coastal parishes. These large thorny shrubs hold a number of sparrow species have also been observed surprisingly diverse variety of bird life, particularly to take fleshy fruits, especially those of vines such during the spring, fall and winter months, including as poison ivy, honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, and the uncommon but regularly-occurring Grasshopper shrubs and trees such as American beautyberry, and Clay-colored sparrows. yaupon holly, and hackberry. In Louisiana, Eastern Chipping Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Fox Sparrow, White- forage in very short vegetation or bare ground throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and habitats, almost always along woodland edges, where Dark-eyed Junco have all been reported to engage in foraging groups flush up at characteristically steep such frugivorous behavior. angles into nearby canopy trees when disturbed. Biologists Paul R. Ehrlich, D. S. Dobkin, and Both “Chippies” and Dark-eyed Juncos are also D. Wheye (The Birder’s Handbook, 1988) mention popular backyard seed-feeder birds. that like the Killdeer, most nesting sparrows Only a few sparrow species live in closed- canopied forests in our state. The Eastern Towhee nests exclusively under mature forest canopies, “Most all sparrow species

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