Rufous-collared sparrow

Appearance

The rufous-collared sparrow is 13.5–15 cm long and weighs 20–25 g. The adult has a stubby grey bill and a grey head with broad black stripes on the crown sides and thinner stripes through the eye and below the cheeks. The nape and breast sides are rufous and the upperparts are black-streaked buff-brown. There are two white wing bars. The throat is white, and the underparts are off-white, becoming brown on the flanks and with a black breast patch.

Young birds have a duller, indistinct head pattern, with brown stripes and a buff ground colour. They lack the rufous collar, and have streaked underparts.

Naming

Local names for this bird include the Portuguese "tico-tico", the Spanish "chingolo" and "copetón", "tufted" in Colombia and "comemaíz" "corn eater" in Costa Rica.

Status

Tame and approachable, it is common throughout its large range and not considered threatened by the IUCN.

Habitat

In the northern and western part of its range, this generally abundant bird is typically found at altitudes of 600–4,000 m, but in the southern and eastern part it is commonly found down to near sea level. It can be seen in virtually any open or semi-open habitat, including cultivation, gardens, parks, grassland and scrubby second growth or cerrado. It copes well with urban and suburban environments, but is absent from the densely forested sections of the Amazon Basin.

It is also scarce on the Guiana Shield, occurring mainly on some tepuis and in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana.

Reproduction

The breeding season is limited by food availability and ultimately rainfall. In the subtropical yungas of north-west Argentina, females begin to build nests around the end of October, when the wet season comes, but by early December most nesting activity has already finished.

The female lays two or three pale greenish-blue eggs with reddish-brown blotches. The eggs measure approximately 19–21 mm by 15–16 mm and weigh 2.6–2.8 g each. They are incubated by the female for 12–14 days, during which she spends about two-thirds of the daytime brooding or attend the nest in some other way.

The male helps in feeding the chicks however, which stay in the nest for about two more weeks. They are not very voracious, and even as they approach fledging the parents will only feed them every 10 minutes or so. Brood parasitism, e.g. by the shiny cowbird, may occur, and breeding failure due to predation is very frequent during the incubation period. Predation on nestlings, on the other hand, does not seem to occur more often than in similar-sized Passeroidea.

Food

The rufous-collared sparrow feeds on the ground on seeds, fallen grain, insects and spiders. It will sometimes join mixed-species feeding flocks and has been observed to pick termites from spider webs. It is usually seen in pairs which hold small territories, or in small flocks.