Lincoln's Sparrow    Melospiza lincolnii

Migratory Status: Neotropical migrant

PIF Population Estimate: 40 000 000

Percent of western hemisphere population breeding in boreal forest: 84%

BAM Effective Detection Radius (m) : 75.02

PIF Maximum Detection Distance (m) : 125

Canadian BBS Population trend: 0.3 n.s. (-1.1 to 1.8)

Life History

The Lincoln’s Sparrow is a small and highly secretive songbird found in shrub-dominated wetlands of the boreal forest. It spends most of its time in dense willow (Salix spp.) cover where it forages and nests. Little is known about the life-history of this predominately boreal breeding species. Bird enthusiasts will best know this species by its rich, wren-like song - a series of high pitched introductory notes, followed by trill phrases. Males sing from exposed perches offering the best opportunity for spotting one of these largely unseen birds.

Male and female Lincoln’s Sparrows are monomorphic in appearance and are easily identified from other Melospiza species by their finely streaked, buff-coloured chest and white belly. Other physical characteristics that help identify this grayish-brown song bird are its prominent, olive-gray median head stripe, gray eye stripe, and rusty edged wings and tail feathers.

The breeding distribution of the Lincoln’s Sparrow is largely contained within the boreal forest. It extends from Alaska east across the Canadian expanse of the boreal forest into Newfoundland and Labrador and south into the northern United States. On the west coast, populations can also be found breeding in sub-alpine zones extending south from British Columbia along the Pacific Coast Mountain Ranges into California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The winter range of the Lincoln’s Sparrow extends from the southern United States through Mexico into Guatemala and Honduras in Central America. On the west coast of North America, winter populations reside along the coast of southern British Columbia.

Reference(s)

Ammon, E. M. 1995. Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii), The Birds of North America Online, . A. Poole, Ed. Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/191