Guide to Boreal Birds
Perching Birds Overview
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).
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.
Voice
2 very thin, insect-like hisses.
Nesting
4 brown-spotted whitish eggs in a grass cup lined with hair and set on the ground, usually in a grass clump.
Habitat
Moist grasslands and boggy meadows; also dry fields in winter.
Range/Migration
Breeds from Mackenzie and central Quebec south to northern Montana, Minnesota, and northern Michigan. Winters in southeastern states.