Chingolo Coronidorado

Identificación

Measuring 15–18 cm (6–7 in) in length with a wingspan of 24.75 cm (9.74 in) and ranging from 19.0 to 35.4 g (0.67 to 1.25 oz) in mass, the adult golden-crowned sparrow is fairly large for an American sparrow. Like all Zonotrichia sparrows, it has a relatively long, square-tipped tail and a slightly peaked crown. Males and females are similarly plumaged, though males average slightly larger than females. Other than a plain gray nape, the adult's upperparts are grayish-brown, with broad brownish-black streaks on the back and scapulars, and an unstreaked rump. Its underparts are gray, slightly paler on the belly and buffier on the flanks. Its wings and tail are brown, and it shows two white wing bars. Its legs are pale brown, and its bill is dark, with the upper mandible darker than the lower. Its iris is brown.<p>In the breeding season, the golden-crowned sparrow has a broad yellow central crown stripe which becomes pale gray towards the back of the head.<p>Although its distinctive crown patches allow for easy identification of the adult golden-crowned sparrow in breeding plumage, an immature or non-breeding bird might be mistaken for a white-crowned or white-throated sparrow. It is distinguished from the former by its crown pattern and dusky (rather than pale pink or yellowish) bill, and from the latter by its larger size, plain throat, and lack of a buff-colored central crown stripe. A young or non-breeding bird may also resemble a female house sparrow, but can be distinguished by its larger size, darker plumage, longer tail and (usually) some amount of dull yellow feathering on its forehead.

Taxonomía

The golden-crowned sparrow is one of five species in the genus Zonotrichia, a group of large American sparrows. It has no subspecies. It is a sister species with, and very closely related to, the white-crowned sparrow; studies of mitochondrial DNA show the two evolved into separate species very recently in geologic time. The white-throated sparrow is a slightly more distant relative. Hybridization with both white-crowned and white-throated sparrows has been reported.<p>Ornithologist John Latham first described the species in his book General Synopsis of Birds in 1781, but he thought it was a variety of what he called the "black-crowned bunting" and neglected to give it a scientific name. That lapse was corrected in 1789, when Johann Friedrich Gmelin assigned it the name Emberiza atricapilla in the 13th edition of Systema naturae. Various authorities in the 1800s (including John James Audubon) placed it in the genus Fringilla, but many assigned it to its current genus, Zonotrichia, once William John Swainson had established that genus. Peter Simon Pallas described the same species in 1844 as Zonotrichia coronata and, for much of the 1800s, this was the name used by most authorities.<p>In the bird's scientific name, the genus name Zonotrichia is a compound word: from Ancient Greek ζώνη (zone, transl. band) and θρίξ (thrix, transl. hair). The specific epithet atricapilla is Latin for "black-haired": ater (transl. black) and capillus (transl. hair of the head).

Nombre científico

Zonotrichia atricapilla

Autoridad

(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Orden

Passeriformes

Familia

Passerellidae

Género

Zonotrichia

Distribución y hábitat

The golden-crowned sparrow is common along the western edge of North America. It is a migratory species, breeding from north-central Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands as far west as Unimak Island) and central Yukon south to the northwestern corner of the US state of Washington, and wintering from southern coastal Alaska to northern Baja California. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Japan and Russia, and occasionally strays as far as the eastern coast of North America, from Nova Scotia to Florida. In the winter, it is generally found in brushy areas, (particularly chaparral), usually in dense shrubs.

Área de cría

NA : w Alaska to sw Canada

Área no reproductiva

to nw Mexico

Migración

Migrantes completos

Comportamiento

Patrón migratorio: Migrantes completos.

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional: en declive.

Tendencia poblacional

en declive