The vesper sparrow (''Pooecetes gramineus'') is a medium-sized New World sparrow. The only member of the genus ''Pooecetes'', it is a pale sparrow with brown streaks that breeds across the grasslands of northern North America. It migrates to winter in the southern United States and Mexico.

Taxonomy

The vesper sparrow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. He placed it with the finches in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Fringilla The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae. Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 1 ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Fringilla graminea''. He gave the locality as New York. Gmelin based his own description on those for the "grass finch" that had been described by John Latham in 1783 and by

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

in 1785. The vesper sparrow is now the only species placed in the genus ''Pooecetes'' that was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

ποα (''poa'') meaning "grass" with οικητης (''oikētēs)'' meaning "dweller". The specific epithet ''gramineus'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning "grassy" or "grass-like". Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised. * ''P. g. gramineus'' ( Gmelin, JF, 1789) – breeds in southeast Canada to east USA * ''P. g. confinis'' Baird, SF, 1858 – breeds in southwest Canada and central west USA * ''P. g. affinis'' Miller, GS, 1888 – breeds in northwest USA

Description

The vesper sparrow is in overall length and weighs . Adults have light brown upper-parts and light under-parts, both with darker streaking. There are three features that are unique to the vesper sparrow. The first is the presence of a small, white ring surrounding the eyes. The second is the flash of white tail feathers seen during flight. The third is the presence of a chestnut patch on the shoulder. However, this is usually not visible to an observer. Another notable characteristic is that some vesper sparrows, especially west of the Cascades, tend to have a more pinkish hue. They also do not have a bold eyeline found in some sparrows. The male sings from a higher perch, such as a shrub or fencepost, which indicates his ownership of the nesting territory. The musical song begins with two pairs of repeated whistled notes and ends in a series of trills, somewhat similar to that of the song sparrow. They have slurred whistles with one lower pitch followed by a second higher pitch. Furthermore, vesper sparrows make use of short descending trills as a part of their song.

Distribution and habitat

Vesper sparrows are primarily found across Canada and most of the northern United States. Unlike some other sparrows in the regions they are found, vesper sparrows are located in lower elevations of grassy areas such as

dry grassland The key characteristic of dry grasslands is that they have low-growing plants, causing the area to be quite open. They also have a mottled structure, which leads to a biome with sunny or semi-shaded areas. On top of that, their soil is relatively ...

s, sagebrush and fields. Around September, with the onset of fall, vesper sparrows migrate to the eastern United States, the central United States, Mexico and the Gulf Coast. They return during March as spring arrives to the north.

Behavior

Vesper sparrows tend to be more grounded to the shrub area, often taking dust baths and hopping around. These birds forage on the ground, mainly eating insects and seeds. Outside the

nesting season 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 lightwei ...

they often feed in small flocks.

Breeding

The

courtship Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage or committed romantic, ''de facto'' relationship. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marri ...

involves the male sparrow running with his wings raised and occasionally jumping around to sing its song. The cup shaped loose nest is placed on the ground. The clutch of 3–5 eggs, usually 4, is incubated by the female for 12–13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge after at least 9 days in the nest. Two broods are raised per season.

Threats to population

While the species as a whole is not threatened or endangered, it has faced declines in population. Between 1970 and 2014, the population decreased by 30% and currently has an estimated population of around 34 million. The species has a delicate relationship with agricultural land. The loss of farmland due to conversions to more developed regions has created a degree of

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by a reduction in space available for nesting. However, the presence of farmland has also damaged the population. Improper cultivator operations including early and frequent harvesting have destroyed nests and eggs. Fallow strips around farmland have also contributed to habitat loss. The reduction in cover can increase exposure to predators.

References

External links

Vesper Sparrow - ''Pooecetes gramineus''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter {{Taxonbar, from=Q776555 vesper sparrow vesper sparrow Birds of North America vesper sparrow Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin