Centronyx bairdii
The Baird's Sparrow (Centronyx bairdii) is a small, elusive grassland songbird, measuring approximately 12-14 cm (4.7-5.5 inches) in length, with a wingspan of 18-20 cm (7.1-7.9 inches) and weighing 15-20 grams (0.5-0.7 ounces). Its plumage features a distinctive flat-headed profile, a buffy-orange face highlighted by a contrasting dark malar stripe (mustache), and a bright yellow or orange-buff supercilium that fades towards the rear. The upperparts are streaky brown with a white belly, and ...
Found primarily in native, undisturbed tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies with patchy vegetation and some bare ground, typically at low to moderate elevations.
Primarily insectivorous during the breeding season, consuming grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars; shifts to a diet of small grass and forb seeds during fall and winter.
Baird's Sparrows are notably secretive, spending most of their time walking or running through dense grass rather than flying, making them incredibly difficult to observe. They are diurnal, foraging primarily on the ground for insects and seeds, often picking them off vegetation. Males establish ...
The Baird's Sparrow has a restricted breeding range across the northern Great Plains of North America, primarily in southeastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba, eastern Montana, North Dakota, western South Dakota, and sparingly in northwestern Minnesota. Its wintering groun...
Near Threatened
- Named after Spencer F. Baird, a distinguished ornithologist and second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. - Its distinctive song, a quiet, buzzy trill, is often described as sounding like an insect, making it challenging to pick out from other prairie sounds. - Baird's Sparrows are one o...