Black-capped Sparrow

Arremon abeillei

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernOmnivoreWoodlandDomed nestSmall · 26 g

What the Black-capped Sparrow sounds like

Sonogram of the Black-capped Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Manabí: Río Ayampe, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Black-capped Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Zamora-Chinchipe: SE Zumba, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Black-capped Sparrow: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Zamora-Chinchipe: Río Mayo, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The black-capped sparrow is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs about 26 g (0.92 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly black head with a white throat and a wide white stripe from above the eye down the side of the nape. They often raise their crown feathers in a shaggy crest. Their upperparts and tail are blue-gray. Their wing coverts are blue-gray; some individuals have small pale tips on them that form two wing bars. Their flight feathers are dusky with blue-gray edges. Their throat is white with a black band below it across the upper breast. Voice: The black-capped sparrow's song is described as "a fast tseeét, tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi tseeét and as "a variable high series of thin, buzzy whistles and loose trills, for example: tsew tsew tsi-tetetetete". Its calls are a "very short, high-pitched tsik", a "high-pitched sibilant or lisping descending tseew", and a "high-pitched buzzy bzee". The first two are usually repeated a few times.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Black-capped Sparrow

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Black-capped Sparrow

Regular range

The map shades 2 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

About the Black-capped Sparrow

The black-capped sparrow is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Black-capped Sparrow vs Olive Finch · Black-capped Sparrow vs Sierra Nevada Brushfinch · Black-capped Sparrow vs Half-collared Sparrow

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