General Information

Citations:

• Allaire, P. N. and C. D. Fisher. 1975. Feeding ecology of three resident sympatric sparrows in eastern Texas. Auk 92:260-269.
• Armistead, H. T. 1981. Middle Atlantic Coast region. Am. Birds 35:169.
• Brooks, M. 1938. Bachman's Sparrow in the north-central portion of its range. Wilson Bull. 50:86-109.
• Butcher, G.S., and D.K. Niven. 2007. Combining Data from the Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey to Determine the Continental Status and Trends of North American Birds. National Audubon Society technical report http://stateofthebirds.audubon.org/cbid/report.php
• Cox, J. and Jones, C. 2008. Bachman’s sparrow and the Order of the Phoenix. Birding. May/June 2008. pp. 38-45
• Dunning, John B. 2006. Bachman's Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/038
• Dunning, J. B. and B. D. Watts. 1990. Regional differences in habitat occupancy by Bachman's Sparrow. Auk 107:463-472.
• Haggerty, T. M. 1986. Reproductive ecology of Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) in central Arkansas. Phd Thesis. Univ. Arkansas, Fayetteville.
• Haggerty, T. M. 1988. Aspects of the breeding biology and productivity of Bachman's Sparrow in central Arkansas. Wilson Bull. 100:247-255.
• Hardin, K. I., T. S. Baskett, and K. E. Evans. 1982. Habitat of Bachman's Sparrows breeding on Missouri glades. Wilson Bull. 94:208-212.
• Kadir, W. R. Wan A. 1987. Vegetational characteristics of early successional sites utilized for breeding by the Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) in eastern Texas. Master's Thesis. Stephen F. Austin Univ., Nacogdoches, TX.
• Lee, D. S. 1999. Extinction, extirpation, and range reduction of breeding birds in North Carolina: what can be learned? Chat 63:103-120.
• Legrand, H. E. and K. J. Schneider. 1992. Bachman's Sparrow, Aimophila aestivalis. Pages 299-313 in Migratory nongame birds of management concern in the Northeast U.S. (Schneider, K. J. and D. M. Pence, Eds.) U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Newton Corner, MA.
• Saunders, W. E. 1919. Bachman's Sparrow an addition to the Canadian fauna. Auk 33:118.
• Sprunt, A. and E. B. Chamberlain. 1970. South Carolina bird life. Univ. South Carolina Press, Columbia.
• Tucker, J.W., W.D. Robinson, and J.B. Grand. 2004. Influence of fire on Bachman’s Sparrow, an endemic North American songbird. Journal of Wildlife Management 68:1114–1123.
• Weston, F. M. 1968. Bachman's Sparrow. Pages 956-975 in Life histories of North American cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings and allies. (Austin, O. L., Ed.) U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 237.
• Wood, D. R., L. W. Burger, J. L. Bowman, and C. L. Hardy. 2004. Avian community response to pine-grassland restoration. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 32:819-829.

Habitat Requirements

Historically, this species could be most commonly found in mature pine forests. As most of such habitat has been logged and degraded, presently this sparrow can be found to inhabit regions of pine woodlands that have a more open understory and more grassy conditions than a dense and heavily vegetated lower-canopy brush (Hardin et al. 1982, Kadir and Wan 1987, Dunning and Watts 1990). Frequent fires in the understory of old-growth pine forests are integral in maintaining this sparrow’s optimal habitat (Jim Cox and Clark Jones 2008). Population counts of these sparrows have been shown to peak in the year directly following a fire and will drop rapidly in the years that follow as forest succession takes place and the understory of the forest becomes more densely vegetated (Tucker et al. 2004). It has been suggested that maintaining a three-year fire frequency regime in an area could ensure a quality of habitat that is necessary for maintaining happy and healthy Bachman Sparrow populations (Jim Cox and Clark Jones 2008).

Food Habits

The main sources of food for Bachman’s Sparrows are seeds and insects, especially the seeds of Panicum grass. Foraging primarily in the early hours of the morning and at dusk, individuals will move slowly and deliberately and glean their food items from the ground (Allaire and Fisher 1975). The young are fed primarily insect food items, such as grasshoppers, beetle larvae, and spiders (Haggerty 1986).

Movement / Home Range

The geographic range of this species includes the coastal plain and Piedmont of the southeastern United States. Typically, the populations of the southern coastal plains are non-migratory while those found in more northern regions are migrating populations (Sprunt and Chamberlain 1970, Armistead 1981). Calculations of the range and population size of Bachman’s Sparrows have varied greatly within the last century and currently this species is a rare-sight in many of the areas in which it was once historically common. The sparrow has been found to occupy restored pine lands that are being managed on behalf of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Wood et al. 2004).

Reproductive Strategy

This species exhibits a monogamous mating strategy, although systematics of the pair bond and courtship behaviors have been poorly documented (Haggerty 1988). In central Arkansas, the total breeding season, from the laying of the first egg to independence of the last fledgling, spans a total of 170 days. The species has been reported to have at least 2 broods per season with an average clutch size of four eggs and an average breeding cycle of 48 days per clutch (Haggerty 1986). Females construct their nests out of grasses and forbes close to ground-level at the base of protective vegetation such as an overhanging grass clump or pine seedling.

Other

There is a lot that is still unknown about this songbird as very little formal studies were completed before the mid 80s. Historically, the population expanded its range drastically and reached Canada in the northern limits of its range in 1917. This expansion of geographic range peaked around 1920 and gradually declined. Today this species is now rare or absent over most of its historic northern range as well as uncommon in most of its southern ranges (Saunders 1919, Brooks 1938, Weston 1968, Lee 1999¬). Populations of Bachman’s Sparrow are negatively affected by fire suppression and heavy timber management in pine woods as these activities will increase the density of vegetation in the understory and altering the ecosystem’s characteristics that are preferred by the Sparrow.