Harris's Sparrow
(Zonotrichia querula)

Overview

Summary

© Christian Artuso
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The Harris's Sparrow is the only songbird species that breeds exclusively in Canada, where it nests in the transition between the boreal forest and arctic tundra. Its population is best monitored through the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on its wintering grounds in the United States, data from which indicate a large decrease since 1970. The Harris's Sparrow is a high-priority candidate wildlife species for assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). With 100% of the global breeding population, Canada's responsibility for this species is very high. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Causes of the population decrease are not well known, but direct human impact on Harris's Sparrow's remote breeding habitat seems unlikely. Habitat loss could result from forest fires and the narrowing of the forest-tundra ecotone due to climate change (Norment and Shackleton 2008).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Norment, C.J. and S.A. Shackleton. 2008. Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Norment, C.J. and S.A. Shackleton. 2008. Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)