The rusty-crowned ground sparrow (''Melozone kieneri'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Passerellidae New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns. Although they share t ...

that is endemic to western and southwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The species occurs both in the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...

range, and the Cordillera Neovolcanica mountain belt. The rusty-crowned ground sparrow's natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.

Description

Its size ranges from six to seven inches (15–17.5 cm). The adult has a

rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

crown with white lore spot and its face is olive brown with white eye ring while the upper parts grayish olive. Its throat and underparts are white with a black central chest spot and the undertail covers are pale cinnamon. Juveniles are dusky brown on the upper parts with the throat and underparts dirty pale lemon, streaked with brown.

References

*Howell, Steve N. G. and Webb, Sophie. 1995. ''A Guide to the Birds Of Mexico and Northern Central America''. Oxford University Press.

External links

PhotoPhoto
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2668918 rusty-crowned ground sparrow Endemic birds of Western Mexico Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Birds of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt rusty-crowned ground sparrow rusty-crowned ground sparrow Taxonomy articles created by Polbot