Zonotrichia capensis

rufous-collared sparrow

Features
By Steve Pence

Geographic Range

Zonotrichia capensis is a neotropical bird that is found from southern Mexico to the southern tip of South America.

Habitat

Rufous-collared sparrows are found in most types of habitat from grasslands in eastern South America to high plateaus in the Andes mountain range in the west, including rural and urban habitats. The major exception to this are closed tracts of forested land. They are primarily an edge and open habitat species. These sparrows are found in forested areas when there is a roadway, river, or a clearing to create an opening in the canopy. This species is found in both tropical and temperate environments.

Physical Description

Rufous-collared sparrows have short grey beaks. They have a greyish-brown streak on the crown of the head with black streaks on either side of the streak. They have a cream to white colored lore and gular region. The side of the head has a black eye line with a grey supercillium and auricular region. The malar region is black. The stomach is a drab grey to white color. The wings and back are predominately brown with some black streaking in it. The wings have a white wing bar. The tail is solid brown.

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes colored or patterned differently
  • male more colorful

Reproduction

Both parents take care of offspring. Males breed opportunistically with other females.

Rufous-collared sparrows live in a wide variety of habitats and the breeding seasons of different populations vary with those habitats.

Rufous-collared sparrows in tropical regions have no one season or time that they breed. There is no good indicator of when an individual or groups of individuals are going to breed. New nests and young individuals have been observed at all times of the year and in all kinds of habitats. These tropical birds only breed once a year and do not re-nest if that clutch fails. The typical clutch size of tropical Zonotrichia capensis is 2 to 3 eggs.

Rufous-collared sparrows in temperate regions have a more seasonal schedule of breeding. They typically breed during the summer months (November to January) when food is more readily available. Clutch sizes are normally 4 to 5 eggs. If a clutch is lost, individuals in temperate populations re-nest immediately.

Time to sexual reproduction is unknown in rufous-collared sparrows, but other Zonotrichia species reach sexual maturity in the year following hatching.

Males are territorial both before and after hatching. Male provisioning of the young is variable; if it is more beneficial for the male’s fitness to be territorial or breed with another female, it will do that instead of help provision offspring. These behaviors vary among temperate and tropical populations and may depend on resource availability. Females provision and protect their young until they are independent.

  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • male parental care
  • female parental care
  • pre-fertilization
    • protecting
      • male
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female

Lifespan/Longevity

The lifespan of Zonotrichia capensis is not known, but its close relatives can live from 10 to 13 years in the wild.

Behavior

Rufous-collared sparrows are unique in their highly variable behaviors. There are over 20 sub-species that differ slightly in behavior. Some migrate yearly other subspecies are resident year round. Rufous-collared sparrows change their feeding behavior based on the food source available at certain times of the year. The most consistent food source is seeds, but when insect populations are high they will switch to eating insects. Some males spend more time helping raise the offspring while others breed with other females.

Home Range

Home range size varies widely. Rufous-collared sparrows are territorial when they have young, but the territory varies in size depending on resource availability.

Communication and Perception

Rufous-collared sparrows use lower frequencie songs, which may travel farther, in open areas than in wooded areas, where higher frequency sounds are used. The trill length is fastest in smaller subspecies compared to larger subspecies. These trill dialects are thought to be learned rather than determined by size.

Food Habits

Rufous-collared sparrow diets consist of 80% seeds and 20% insects. Their diets change in early spring or summer, when insect populations increase. At that time (November to January) insects can account for up 40 to 60% of their diet. Rufous-collared sparrows compensate for different diets by how much grit they consume and stores in their gizzards. When the predominant foods are seeds, the gizzard has significantly more grit in it than when insects make up 50% of the diet. Grit is needed to break down seeds more than it is needed to break down insects.

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • seeds, grains, and nuts

Predation

Rufous-collared sparrows are particularly susceptible to nest predation. This is due to the open cup style of their nest. Individuals are cryptically colored, which may help protect them from some predation.

Ecosystem Roles

Shiny cowbirds ( Molothrus bonariensis ) are nest parasites of rufous-collared sparrows.

  • Ecosystem Impact
  • disperses seeds
Commensal/Parasitic Species

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Rufous-collared sparrows are important for research because of their ability to live in a wide range of environments. This species is not important to ecotourism, like other tropical birds, because they are common throughout rural and urban environments and are not brilliantly colored.

  • Positive Impacts
  • research and education

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Rufous-collared sparrows have been know to eat agricultural seeds from farm fields, although they do not do large amounts of damage to the overall crop.

Conservation Status

Rufous-collared sparrows are a species of least concern, according to the IUCN.

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Steve Pence (author), University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Christopher Yahnke (editor), University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Adam DeBolt (editor), Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

desert or dunes

in deserts low (less than 30 cm per year) and unpredictable rainfall results in landscapes dominated by plants and animals adapted to aridity. Vegetation is typically sparse, though spectacular blooms may occur following rain. Deserts can be cold or warm and daily temperates typically fluctuate. In dune areas vegetation is also sparse and conditions are dry. This is because sand does not hold water well so little is available to plants. In dunes near seas and oceans this is compounded by the influence of salt in the air and soil. Salt limits the ability of plants to take up water through their roots.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

mountains

This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation.

urban

living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.

suburban

living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

riparian

Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

polygynous

having more than one female as a mate at one time

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

year-round breeding

breeding takes place throughout the year

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

male parental care

parental care is carried out by males

female parental care

parental care is carried out by females

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

migratory

makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds

sedentary

remains in the same area

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

visual

uses sight to communicate

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

cryptic

having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

visual

uses sight to communicate

tactile

uses touch to communicate

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

References

Auer, S., R. Bassar, J. Fontaine, T. Martin. 2007. Breeding Biology of Passerines in a Subtropical montane forest in Northwestern Argentina. The Condor , 109: 321=333.

Busch, S., J. Wingfield, I. Moore. 2004. Territorial Agression of a Tropical Passerine, Zonotrichia capensis, in Response to a Variety of Conspecific Intruders. Behaviour , 141: 1173-1188.

Class, A., I. Moore. 2010. Is there a Trade-off between caing for offspring and territorial aggression in tropical male rufou-collared sparrows (Zonotrichia Capensis). Behaviour , 147: 1819-1839.

Class, A., H. Wada, S. Lynn, I. Moore. 2011. The Timing of Life-History Stages Across Latitudes in Zonotrichia Sparrows. The Condor , 113: 438-448.

Cueto, V., L. Marone, J. Lopez de Casenave. 2006. Seed Preferences in Sparrow Species of the Monte Desert, Argentina: Implications for Seed-Granivore Interactions. The Auk , 123: 358-367.

Handford, P., S. Lougheed. 1991. Variation in Duration and Frequency Characters in the Song of the Rufous-collared Sparrow, Zonotrichia Capensis, with Respect to Habitat, Trill Dialect and Body Size. The Condor , 93: 644-658.

Lopez-Calleja, V., M. Soto-Gamboa, E. Rezende. 2000. The Role of Gastolites on Feeding Behavior and Digestive Efficiency in the Rufous-Collared Sparrow. The Condor , 102: 465-469.

Lougheed, S., P. Handoford. 1993. Covariation of Morphological and Allozyme Frequency Characters in Populations of the Rufous-Collared Sparrow. The Auk , 110: 179=188.

M.K, K., F. A.G. 1987.

Longevity records of North American birds: Coerbinae through Estrildidae
. Journal of Field Ornithology , 58: 318-333.

Massoni, V., J. Reboreda. 2002. A Neglected Colst of Brood Parasitism: Egg Puntured By shiny Cowbirds During Inspection of Potential Host Nests. The Condor , 104: 407-412.

Novoa, F., C. Veloso, V. Lopez-Calleja. 1996. Seasonal Changes in Diet, Digestive Morphology and Digestive efficienct in the Rufous-Collared Sparrow (Zonothrichia Capensis) in Central Chile. The Condor , 98: 873-876.

Olson, S., H. Alvarenga. 2006. An Extraordinary Feeding Assemblage of Birds at a Termite Swarm in the Serra da Montiqueira, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia , 14: 297-299.

2004. "Rufous-Collared sparrow" (On-line). Accessed August 24, 2013 at http://www.planetofbirds.com/passeriformes-emberizidae-rufous-collared-sparrow-zonotrichia-capensis .

To cite this page: Pence, S. 2014. "Zonotrichia capensis" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed {%B %d, %Y} at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Zonotrichia_capensis/

Last updated: 2014-02-26 / Generated: 2025-10-03 00:56

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