Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii, is a small American sparrow

American sparrow

American sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming part of the family Emberizidae. American sparrows are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns....

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Adults have streaked brown upperparts with a light brown breast with streaks, a white belly and a white throat. They have a pale stripe on the crown with a dark stripe on each side, an olive face and neck, rust-coloured wings and a short dark forked tail.

Their breeding habitat is shrubby fields, often wet, in southern Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, the northeastern United States

Northeastern United States

The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...

, and the Midwestern United States

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

. The nest is a well-concealed open cup on or close to the ground in a grassy location; these birds often nest in small colonies. They migrate

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

 to marsh

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

es and open pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 woods in the southeastern United States

Southeastern United States

The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....

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These birds forage on the ground, mainly eating insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s. Their song is a quick se-lick.

The range and numbers of this bird are decreasing, probably due to habitat loss.

The Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 population was solely known from a 105 acre (0.4249203 km²) brushfield near Houston and disappeared after devegetation due to industrial development in the 1980s. It was considered a distinct subspecies (A. h. houstonensis: Arnold, 1983) but is today considered to fall into the range of variation of the nominate subspecies (Browning, 1990). Likewise, the South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

n population formerly known as P. h. occidentalis has been synonymized with the nominate. The only remaining subspecies generally (but not universally) accepted are the Eastern Henslow's Sparrow and the Western Henslow's Sparrow, whose ranges are for the most part separated by the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

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External links

• Henslow's Sparrow Information - South Dakota Birds and Birding
• Henslow's Sparrow Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Henslow's Sparrow - Ammodramus henslowii - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Henslow's Sparrow photo gallery VIREO

Further reading

Books

• Herkert, J. R., P. D. Vickery, and D. E. Kroodsma. 2002. Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii). In The Birds of North America, No. 672 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Reports

• Austen MJ. (1993). Updated status report on the Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus Henslowii) in Canada. Canadian Research Index. p. n/a.
• Austen MJ. (1997). National recovery plan for Henslow's sparrow. Canadian Research Index. p. n/a.

Theses

• Bajema RA. Ph.D. (2000). Modeling species distributions: Indiana's terrestrial vertebrate communities with special emphasis on the Henslow's sparrow. Indiana State University, United States, Indiana.
• Giocomo JJ. Ph.D. (2005). Conservation of grassland bird populations on military installations in the eastern United States with special emphasis on Fort Campbell Army Base, Kentucky. The University of Tennessee, United States, Tennessee.
• Guzy MJ. Ph.D. (2005). Habitat use, nesting biology, and within-season movements of grassland birds in southwest Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin - Madison, United States, Wisconsin.
• Hanson LG. M.S. (1994). The Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) of Minnesota: Population status and breeding habitat analysis. Central Michigan University, United States, Michigan.
• Harrell WC. Ph.D. (2004). Importance of heterogeneity in a grassland ecosystem. Oklahoma State University, United States, Oklahoma.
• Herkert JR. Ph.D. (1991). An ecological study of the breeding birds of grassland habitats within Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States, Illinois.
• Mazur RL. M.S. (1996). Implications of field management for Henslow's sparrow habitat at Saratoga National Historical Park, New York. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, United States, New York.
• McCoy TD. Ph.D. (2000). Effects of landscape composition and multi-scale habitat characteristics on the grassland bird community. University of Missouri - Columbia, United States, Missouri.
• Robins JD. M.A. (1967). ECOLOGY OF HENSLOW'S SPARROW. Western Michigan University, United States, Michigan.
• Tucker JW, Jr. Ph.D. (2002). Influence of season and frequency of fire on Bachman's and Henslow's sparrows in longleaf pine forests of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Auburn University, United States, Alabama.
• Winter M. Ph.D. (1998). Effect of habitat fragmentation on grassland-nesting birds in southwestern Missouri. University of Missouri - Columbia, United States, Missouri.

Articles

• Applegate RD, Flock BE & Horak GJ. (2002). Spring burning and grassland area: Effects on Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii (Audubon)) and Dickcissel (Spiza americana (Gmelin)) in Eastern Kansas, USA. Natural Areas Journal. vol 22, no 2. pp. 160–162.
• Arnold KA. (1983). A New Subspecies of Henslow Sparrow Ammodramus-Henslowii. Auk. vol 100, no 2. pp. 504–505.
• Bajema RA & Lima SL. (2001). Landscape-level analyses of Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) abundance in reclaimed coal mine grasslands. American Midland Naturalist. vol 145, no 2. pp. 288–298.
• Carrie NR, Robert OW, Kenneth RM, Jeffrey CS & et al. (2002). Winter abundance of and habitat use by Henslow's Sparrows in Louisiana. The Wilson Bulletin. vol 114, no 2. p. 221.
• Catherine LB & Philip CS. (2005). HOME-RANGE SIZE, RESPONSE TO FIRE, AND HABITAT PREFERENCES OF WINTERING HENSLOW'S SPARROWS. The Wilson Bulletin. vol 117, no 3. p. 211.
• Cully JF, Jr. & Michaels HL. (2000). Henslow's Sparrow habitat associations on Kansas tallgrass prairie. Wilson Bulletin. vol 112, no 1. pp. 115–123.
• Eckert KR. (1974). Henslows Sparrow and Bells Vireo in Southwest Minnesota. Loon. vol 46, no 3. pp. 122–123.
• Guzy MJ, Ribic CA & Sample DW. (2002). Helping at a Henslow's Sparrow nest in Wisconsin. Wilson Bulletin. vol 114, no 3. pp. 407–409.
• Herkert JR. (1994). Status and habitat selection of the Henslow's sparrow in Illinois. Wilson Bulletin. vol 106, no 1. pp. 35–45.
• Herkert JR. (1997). Population trends of the Henslow's sparrow in relation to the Conservation Reserve Program in Illinois, 1975–1995. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 68, no 2. pp. 235–244.
• Kim DH. (2005). First Nebraska nest record for Henslow's sparrow. Prairie Naturalist. vol 37, no 3. pp. 171–173.
• Maiken W. (1999). Nesting biology of Dickcissels and Henslow's sparrows in Southwestern Missouri prairie fragments. The Wilson Bulletin. vol 111, no 4. p. 515.
• Mangun JC & Kolb RL. (2000). Effects of grassland management on Henslow's sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii, (Fringillidae), populations in eastern North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. vol 116, no 1. pp. 49–56.
• McNair DB. (1998). Henslow's sparrow and sedge wren response to a dormant-season prescribed burn in a pine savanna. Florida Field Naturalist. vol 26, no 2. pp. 46–47.
• Patterson DE. (1968). Henslows Sparrow in Hardin County Tennessee USA Passerherbulus-Henslowii Behavior. Migrant. vol 39, no 3. pp. 61–62.
• Pranty B & Scheuerell MD. (1997). First summer record of the Henslow's sparrow in Florida. Florida Field Naturalist. vol 25, no 2. pp. 64–66.
• Reid W. (1992). Henslow's sparrow Ammodramus henslowii. Brauning, D. vol W, p. Atlas of breeding birds in Pennsylvania.
• Reinking DL, Wiedenfeld DA, Wolfe DH & Rohrbaugh RW, Jr. (2000). Distribution, habitat use, and nesting success of Henslow's sparrow in Oklahoma. Prairie Naturalist. vol 32, no 4. pp. 219–232.
• Robb AB, Travis LD, Peter ES & Steven LL. (2001). Reclaimed coal mine grasslands and their significance for Henslow's sparrows in the American midwest. The Auk. vol 118, no 2. p. 422.
• Robins JD. (1971). A Study of Henslows Sparrow in Michigan. Wilson Bulletin. vol 83, no 1. pp. 39–48.
• Shaffer JA, Igl LD & Vanhove F. (2003). Historical and recent records and first nest records of Henslow's sparrow in North Dakota. Prairie Naturalist. vol 35, no 2. pp. 81–94.
• Sheldon P, Nicholas RH & Geoffrey EH. (1999). Habitat requirements of Henslow's Sparrows wintering in silvicultural lands of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The Auk. vol 116, no 1. p. 109.
• Thatcher BS, Krementz DG & Woodrey MS. (2006). Henslow's sparrow winter-survival estimates and response to prescribed burning. Journal of Wildlife Management. vol 70, no 1. pp. 198–206.
• Tucker JW & Robinson WD. (2003). Influence of season and frequency of fire on Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) wintering on Gulf Coast pitcher plant bogs. Auk. vol 120, no 1. pp. 96–106.
• Zimmerman JL. (1988). Breeding Season Habitat Selection by the Henslow's Sparrow Ammodramus-Henslowii in Kansas USA. Wilson Bulletin. vol 100, no 1. pp. 17–24.