Zonotrichia atricapilla
Aside from the spectacular views, one of the rewards of climbing peaks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is walking through the world of the Golden-crowned Sparrow. Breeding in the open, scrubby areas near treeline, Golden-crowned Sparrows offer their sad, flat song to the challenging landscape. Exhausted people crossing the Northern Rockies during the Gold Rush were further disheartened by the dreary Oh dear me call from the surrounding shrubs. Ironically, the only gold most men were to encounter on their trip was on the crowns of these mountaineering songbirds. The scientific name atricapilla is Latin for 'black hair,' in reference to the broad outline of the gold crown. |
I.D.: Sexes similar: heavy black eyebrows that converge on the nape; golden-yellow fore crown; gray hind crown; gray face; dark bill; long tail; gray-brown, unstreaked underparts; streaked upperparts; faint, white wing bars. Size: L 6-7 in. (15-18 cm). Range: uncommon migrant and common summer resident in the Canadian Rockies; rare in Waterton Lakes and Glacier NPs; vagrant elsewhere in the U.S. Rockies. Habitat: high-elevation meadows, mountain tundra and stunted fir and spruce forests in the upper subalpine and the alpine. Nesting: usually in a scrape or depression on the ground, near the base of a shrub or small tree; bulky cup nest is woven with grass, twigs, leaves and bark shreds and lined with fine materials; 4-5 eggs. Feeding: gleans the ground for invertebrates, buds, seeds and occasionally fruit. Voice: 3-5 notes: Oh dear me or three blind mice. Similar Species: White-crowned Sparrow: lacks the golden-yellow crown. Harris's Sparrow: black bib; orange-pink bill. |
