Five-striped Sparrow Life History

Habitat

Five-striped Sparrows breed on steep, dry hillsides with thick vegetation. Breeding birds in central Sonora, Mexico, nest on hillsides covered in short, dry, deciduous forest with a nearly closed canopy 3–6 meters (10–20 feet) high and a dense understory 1–2 meters (3–7 feet) high. At the northern tip of their range in southeastern Arizona, they nest in canyons with grasses and dense thorn scrub 1–2 meters (3–7 feet) high. These sparrows use similar habitats, as well as more open areas, during the nonbreeding season.

Food

Five-striped Sparrows feed mainly on insects, especially moths and caterpillars. Adults also eat seeds and some berries. And while breeding pairs feed nestlings and young fledglings almost entirely caterpillars and grasshoppers, the adults do not eat any grasshoppers themselves. Five-striped Sparrows feed mostly on the ground or in low shrubs, pecking at prey items on foliage. Unlike some other sparrows, they do not scratch for prey in leaf litter.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Placed in a shrub or on the ground, often in grass clumps or at the base of an ocotillo shrub.

Nest Description

Female builds a deep cup from grasses and lines it with fine grasses and animal hair.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Five-striped Sparrows typically stay low and hop through vegetation or along the ground. Males sing anywhere from the ground up to the tops of bushes or trees. Pairs are socially monogamous during a single breeding season. They remain in close contact with each other, but if they are separated, they reaffirm their pair bond with a call duet when they reunite. In Arizona, nesting begins with the start of summer rains. The female builds the nest, with the male accompanying her as she gathers nesting material. She also performs all incubation and most feeding of very young chicks; the male contributes evenly to feeding the young after they are 4–5 days old. Chicks leave the nest after 9–10 days, and remain with their parents for at least six weeks after fledging. During the nonbreeding season, Five-striped Sparrows gather in loose flocks that are typically small but sometimes contain upwards of 40 individuals.

Conservation

Partners in Flight estimates Five-striped Sparrow’s global population size at 200,000 breeding individuals and rates the species a 15 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a Yellow Watch List species of high conservation concern.

Credits

Byers, C., J. Curson, and U. Olsson (1995). Sparrows and Buntings. A Guide to the Sparrows and Buntings of North America and the World. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, USA.

Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, USA.

Groschupf, K. D. (2021). Five-striped Sparrow (Amphispizopsis quinquestriata), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.fisspa.01.1

Partners in Flight (2023). Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2023.

Rising, J. D. (1996). A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of the Sparrows of the United States and Canada. Academic Press, NY, USA.

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

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