Cassin's Sparrow
Peucaea cassinii
The Cassin's Sparrow (Peucaea cassinii) is a uncommon new world sparrow found in 4 countries, weighing about 19 g. Cassin's sparrow is a medium-sized sparrow.
About the Cassin's Sparrow
Cassin's sparrow is a medium-sized sparrow.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
The sparrow has a long tail, gray-brown with white corners, and has dark marks on the back and sides. The species resembles Botteri's sparrow because of its size and marks, but Botteri's sparrow is a weaker shade of gray. The best way to tell the differences between the two is the song of Cassin's sparrow. Both the males and females are the same shade of gray and are 5 to 6 inches, although males are bigger. The Cassin's sparrow is a fairly large, plain, grayish sparrow that lacks conspicuous markings. Voice: The sparrow's song sounds like titi-trrrrrrrrrrr, tyew tyew. Only the males sing and the males are known for flying in the air and gliding down while singing which is called "skylarking". Males of the species are one of only a few sparrows known to skylark.
What the Cassin's Sparrow sounds like
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Canada, Costa Rica.
When to see it
Best months: March, April, May, June, July, August, with peak activity in May. It is a summer visitor species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Cassin's Sparrow?
- The sparrow has a long tail, gray-brown with white corners, and has dark marks on the back and sides. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Cassin's Sparrow?
- The Cassin's Sparrow is a small sized bird weighing about 19 g.
- Where can you see a Cassin's Sparrow?
- The Cassin's Sparrow occurs in 4 countries, including the United States and Mexico.
- What does a Cassin's Sparrow sound like?
- You can listen to a field recording of the Cassin's Sparrow on this page, contributed to xeno-canto under open licences.
- What birds look similar to a Cassin's Sparrow?
- The Cassin's Sparrow is most easily confused with the Stripe-headed Sparrow, the Rufous-winged Sparrow and the Bachman's Sparrow.
- Is the Cassin's Sparrow endangered?
- The Cassin's Sparrow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Cassin's Sparrow for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
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