Black-chinned Sparrow
Common
Name: Black-chinned
Sparrow (BCSP)
Scientific
Name:
Spizella
atrogularis
Global/Continental
Conservation Status: Not on IUCN 2004 Red List
National-level
Conservation Status:
U.S.
– Bird of Conservation Concern
Key
Reference(s):
BNA No. 270 (Tenney 1997)
Distribution:
Breeds from n-c California, s Nevada, sw Utah, c Arizona, c (rarely
ne) New Mexico, w Texas (Guadalupe and Chisos mountains), c Nuevo León,
and sw Tamaulipas south to n Baja California, and in the Mexican highlands
to Guerrero, Puebla, and nw Oaxaca (east to Asuncion Nochixtlán).
Winters from coastal California (casually), s Arizona, s New
Mexico, w Texas (sporadic) and Nuevo León south to s Baja California, and
through the remainder of the breeding range in Mexico (AOU 1998).
Habitat
Associations:
Chaparral, sagebrush, arid scrub, and brushy hillsides
(Subtropical, and lower Temperate zones) (AOU 1998).
Source(s)
of Research/monitoring Needs: California Bird
Conservation Plan (in Sierra Nevada Range section); New Mexico Bird
Conservation Plan; Texas Avian Research Projects- TARP (Texas Partners in
Flight 2001); BNA No. 270 (Tenney 1997); PIF Monitoring Needs document
(Partners in Flight Science Committee 2004)
PIF
Continental Plan Monitoring Needs Category: Mo2 (BBS trends have very
low precision)
RESEARCH/MONITORING NEEDS (source(s) of needs)
Monitoring
- Priority
monitoring action – Improve the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) (PIF
Monitoring Needs doc)
- Second
priority monitoring action – Conduct Mexican BBS (PIF Monitoring
Needs doc)
- Supplemental
BCSP Surveys
- Additional monitoring required on Montane Shrub species in New
Mexico including BCSP (New Mexico); Study population status, trends
and distribution for chaparral-inhabiting species, including BCSP in
the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (California); Distribution and
abundance of BCSP (TARP - Chihuahuan Desert and Mexican Mts;
California; BNA)
- Cause
of recent population decline in
California
? (BNA)
Habitat
Needs/Ecology/Life History
- Determine
habitat needs of BCSP (TARP - Chihuahuan Desert & Mexican Mts)
- More
information on BCSP life history characteristics (including breeding,
diet, and behavior) (
California
; BNA)
- see
needs under "Demographics"
Effects
of Management Practices
- Determine
role of fire in maintaining BCSP habitat (
New Mexico
)
- Determine
effects of grazing, including direct effects on vegetation and
indirect effects such as cowbird parasitism (
California
)
Nest
Parasitism
- see
needs under "Effects of Management…."
Migration
- Address
questions of demography and migration (causes of sporadic northern
irruptions? Why are BCSP seldom observed in migration? (BNA)
Wintering
- Determine
where
California
populations of BCSP winter (
California
)
Demographics
- Study
reproductive success rates in young & old chaparral (
California
)
Genetics/Taxonomy/Systematics
- Subspecific
studies (geographic variation in plumage, size and behavior) to
address questions of subspecific status & distribution (BNA)
[Link
to References]
[Link
to PIF Bird Conservation Plans]
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