Bird Guide

Cassin's Sparrow vs Stripe-headed Sparrow

Cassin's Sparrow (Peucaea cassinii)

Cassin's Sparrow

Peucaea cassinii

Small19 gGrassland

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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Cassin's Sparrow
Recorded by Diana Doyle · Song · Hereford, Cochise County, Arizona, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Dario · CC0
Stripe-headed Sparrow (Peucaea ruficauda)

Stripe-headed Sparrow

Peucaea ruficauda

Small28 gShrubland

The stripe-headed sparrow is 15 to 19.5 cm (5.9 to 7.7 in) long and weighs about 25 to 45 g (0.88 to 1.6 oz). It is a medium to large sparrow whose sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. r. ruficauda have a blackish brown crown and nape with a white stripe in the crown's middle. They have a blackish brown triangle from the lores across the ear coverts; the rear of the coverts has a pale spot. The crown and triangle are separated by a wide white supercilium. Their upperparts are mostly rufous-brown with blackish streaks. Voice: In northern Central America the stripe-headed sparrow sings "a varied scratchy warble lasting several seconds; also a rapid tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-ti'ti'ti'ti'ti-tip-tip-tip...". Its call there is "a soft, high-pitched seeet!". Another call is "a nasal chuh".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: dfaulder · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cassin's Sparrow and Stripe-headed Sparrow.