Scientific Name: Zonotrichia Atricapilla
Diet: Golden-Crowned Sparrows forage in lawns, gardens, and fields, where they find grasses, flowers, buds, seeds, shoots, and insects. They eat more insects during the breeding season, and feed insects to their young.
Habitat: Golden-Crowned Sparrows live in forest clearings, chaparral, meadows, brush, and thickets, and are also fairly common backyard birds.
Range: During the winter Golden-Crowned Sparrows can be found in western Washington, and down to the bottom of the U.S. In the summertime they live in most of Alaska, and the western third of Canada.
Sound: The song of the Golden-Crowned Sparrow is three notes clearly whistled, sounding like seee co seee.
Nesting: Male Golden-Crowned Sparrows attract their mates by singing. The female builds the nest on the ground, unless there is still snow cover, in which case she places it in a shrub or bush. The nest is made of bark, moss, leaves, grass, and twigs, and it is lined with feathers, grass, or hair. When the nest is finished it is a thick, bulky bowl. Golden Crowned Sparrows lay 3-5 eggs and incubate them for 11-13 days.
Behavior: Golden-Crowned Sparrows forage on the ground in open areas, often in mixed-species flocks. If it is frightened, a Golden-Crowned Sparrow will fly into nearby shrubs.
Description/Field Marks: These Sparrows are about 6-7 inches long, and of course they have golden-yellow crowns. on either side of the gold are thick, black superciliums. Their throats, napes, breasts, and undersides are grey, and their backs and tails are light brown. Their wings are streaked dark brown, light brown, and white. Females are duller and have barely any gold on their crowns.
How To Attract: To attract Golden-Crowned Sparrows put out a seed feeder.
Golden-Crowned Sparrow