Bell's Sparrow

Bell's sparrow is about 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 13 to 17 g (0.46 to 0.60 oz). Males are larger than females but the sexes have the same plumage. Adults in fresh plumage have a mostly dark gray head and nape. They have dusky blackish lores, a white patch above them, a white eye-ring, and sometimes a faint whitish supercilium and dark line behind the eye. They have a white streak below the ear coverts with a black stripe below it. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are brownish with very indistinct fuscous streaks on the back. Voice: Only male Bell's sparrows sing, and do so throughout the breeding season though song frequency declines as the season progresses. The song is described as jumbled, warbled, and buzzy, and each individual has several variations of its song. Males sing from atop a shrub or just below its top. The species' contact call is a "short musical tink" that often is repeated as a twitter.