| General Comments |
The Cassin's Sparrow is a bird of the southern Great Plains, and though it is similar in appearance to other Peucaea sparrows, it has a trait that few other North American songbirds share -- a "skylarking" song. Thus, most of the songs it gives are in flight and not while perched; this a is trait limited mainly to birds of extensive open country, such as Horned Larks and pipits. It seldom strays eastward, and in the spring and early summer of 2011, almost certainly a result of the horrific drought in that part of the continent, a few Cassin's Sparrows strayed east of Texas. Its breeding habitat is mainly dry grasslands with scattered shrubs, and this is somewhat the habitat that was used by a bird singing, on territory(!), in North Carolina in 2011, a remarkable first state record [Chat 76:125-27 link]. |
