Perching Birds

Le Conte's Sparrow  Ammodramus leconteii

Family: New World Sparrows, Emberizidae

Audio: Martyn Stewart, © Naturesound.org

An estimated 74% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest.

Description  5" (13 cm). Similar to the interior Canadian race of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow, but crown stripe is white instead of gray; wide reddish collar on nape and upper back.

Habitat  Moist grasslands and boggy meadows; also dry fields in winter.

Nesting  4 brown-spotted whitish eggs in a grass cup lined with hair and set on the ground, usually in a grass clump.

Voice  2 very thin, insect-like hisses.

Range  Breeds from Mackenzie and central Quebec south to northern Montana, Minnesota, and northern Michigan. Winters in southeastern states.

Discussion  This elusive bird keeps to the thick grass like all grass-loving sparrows except when it mounts an exposed perch to sing. It is almost impossible to flush, for it prefers running to flying. Common in the prairie regions of west-central Canada, it inhabits the drier grass borders of rush-grown marshes. It was named for Major John Le Conte of Georgia, an early American naturalist (1818-1891).