Animalia Life

Aimophila aestivalis
TAXONOMY
Fringilla aestivalis Lichtenstein, 1823, Georgia, U.S.A. Three subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Pine-wood sparrow; French: Bruant des pinиdes; German: Bachmanammer; Spanish: Zacatonero de Bachman.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5–6 in (12–16 cm); 0.7 oz (20 g). A fairly large, large-billed, round-tailed sparrow with reddish brown lateral crown stripes, streaked scapulars and back, gray chin and throat, and unstreaked breast. Sexes are alike in color. Birds from the southeastern United States are more rufous in coloration than are western birds.
DISTRIBUTION
A. a. aestivalis and A. a. bachmani, which are very similar in appearance, breed from Virginia to Florida and west to Louisiana. A. a. illinoensis breed from southern Missouri to central Louisiana and eastern Texas. They migrate from the northern part of their range in winter.
HABITAT
Inhabit open pine woods with fairly rank understory of wiregrass, palmettos, and weeds. They also occur in oak-palmetto scrub and in grasslands away from pine woods and in degraded pastures.
BEHAVIOR
In the breeding season, males sing persistently from an exposed perch, commonly in a pine tree. At other times they are secretive and hard to see and may run rather than fly when pursued.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feed on the ground, eating insects, other invertebrates, and seeds. In winter they principally eat seeds.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Socially monogamous. Nests are placed on the ground, usually in dense cover, and are well concealed by vegetation. Two to five (usually four) eggs are laid from mid-April through July (commonly in June). Incubation lasts 12–14 days, and the young fledge after about 10 days.
BEHAVIOR
During breeding season, males sing persistently from a tree, usually not from an exposed perch. During migration they often occur in large, loose flocks. Their flight is strong, fast, and direct.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feed both in trees and on the ground. During migration, they often feed on the ground in loose flocks. In summer, their diet consists principally of insects; in winter, they eat mainly seeds.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous. The cup-like nest is placed in a tree, commonly a conifer, from 3 to 56 ft (1–19 m) high; nest rarely found on the ground. Three to five (usually four) eggs are laid from March through July. Incubation takes 11–14 days, and the young fledge after 9–12 days. Both parents feed the young.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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