Cabanis's Ground Sparrow vs Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow

Cabanis's Ground Sparrow

Melozone cabanisi

Small28 gShrubland

Cabanis's ground sparrow is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black forecrown. The rest of their crown and their ear coverts are chestnut or chestnut-rufous; the latter have a thin U-shaped black line around their bottom half. They have white lores, a white eye-ring, and white cheeks, chin, and throat with a thin black "moustache". Their back, scapulars, rump, uppertail coverts, wings, and tail are olive or olive-brown, though their nape, upper back, and lesser wing coverts are somewhat grayish. Voice: The song of Cabanis's ground sparrow is "a high, thin, staccato sputter, a buzzy note, and/or a slow trill followed by 3-4 clear, forceful whistles: Pst-t-t-t peee-peer-peer, bzeew whee-whee-whee, or bzeew tow-hewhewhewhe peer-peer-peer-pee". Its calls include "weak, high, staccato, tsit notes", a sharp whistled "pseee psee psee", and a "sharp, thin pseeer".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis · CC BY 4.0

Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow

Melozone kieneri

Small39 gShrubland

The rusty-crowned ground sparrow is 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 35 to 41 g (1.2 to 1.4 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dusky black forecrown and a rufous crown; the rufous continues around behind the dusky black ear coverts and then forward under them. They have white lores and a broken white eye-ring. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are brown. Their underparts are mostly white with a black spot in the center of the breast, brown flanks, and rufescent undertail coverts. Voice: The rusty-crowned ground sparrow's song is a "very high simple calm unstructured tjitit-tjitit-tutututut". It also makes "a high, thin, slightly wiry lisping dzzzzzzzziu or ssssssziu, a high, thin ti, often doubled, and high, sharp chips, tk or tsik".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cabanis's Ground Sparrow and Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow.