Montana Field Guide

Sage Sparrow - Amphispiza belli

Sage Sparrows have a gray-brown head, white eye ring, a white lore spot or eyebrow, and a broad white whisker stripe above a dark whisker stripe. The back is buffy-brown with dusky streaks. There are two pale wing bars (not conspicuous), the underparts are white, with a central dark spot and dusky streaks on the sides. Juveniles are duller and more heavily streaked, and the lore spot sometimes is indistinct (NGS 1983). Subspecies belli of western California is smaller and darker than are subspecies canescens and nevadensis (Johnson and Marten 1992).

Sage Sparrow differs from the Five-striped Sparrow (Aimophila quinquestriata) by lacking a gray breast and sides (adults) and by the presence of streaks in the juvenile plumage. It differs from the Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) by lacking the bold head pattern of rusty, black, and white, and by lacking white corners on the end of the tail. Sage Sparrows lack the gray and rufous head and unstreaked sides of the American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea).

Montana Range