Montana Field Guide

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Montana Field Guides

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- Kingdom - Animals - Animalia
  - Phylum - Vertebrates - Craniata
    - Class - Birds - Aves
      - Order - Songbirds - Passeriformes
        
        Family - New World Sparrows - Passerellidae
        
        Species - Harris's Sparrow - Zonotrichia querula

Harris's Sparrow - Zonotrichia querula

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: SNA

Agency Status
USFWS: MBTA
USFS:
BLM:
PIF:

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General Description

Bill pink; upperparts mostly brown, back and scapulars streaked with black; underparts mostly white. Adults in breeding plumage have black hood covering nape, crown, lores, throat, and center of upper breast; contrasts with gray face.

For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana.

Species Range

Montana Range Range Descriptions

All Ranges

Winter

Migratory

(Click legend blocks to view individual ranges)

Western Hemisphere Range

eBird Occurrence Map

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Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database

Number of Observations: 1374

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions

Relative Density

Recency

SUMMER (Feb 16 - Dec 14)

Direct Evidence of Breeding

Indirect Evidence of Breeding

No Evidence of Breeding

WINTER (Dec 15 - Feb 15)

Regularly Observed

Not Regularly Observed

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)

Migration

The main fall migration is from late September to early October.

Habitat

Frequents streams, hedgerows, shelterbelts, and brushy ravines dominated by deciduous trees and shrubs.

National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species

Forest and Woodland

Deciduous Forest and Woodland

Great Plains Aspen Forest and Woodland

Great Plains Mesic Forest and Woodland

Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest and Woodland

Low Elevation - Xeric Forest and Woodland

Great Plains Ponderosa Pine Forest and Woodland

Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine Forest and Woodland

Montane - Subalpine Forest and Woodland

Interior PNW Douglas-fir Forest and Woodland

Lodgepole Pine Forest

Montane Mesic Coniferous (Grand Fir - Douglas-fir - Western Larch) Forest

Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir Forest

Whitebark Pine - Subalpine Larch Forest and Woodland

Shrubland

Foothills - Montane Shrubland

Lowland - Montane Shrubland

Montane - Subalpine Mesic Shrubland

Mountain Mahogany Woodland and Shrubland

Sagebrush Shrubland

Basin and Wyoming Big (Threetip) Sagebrush Shrubland

Mountain Big Sagebrush Shrubland

Grassland

Lowland - Prairie Grassland

Great Plains Dry Mixedgrass Prairie

Great Plains Mesic Mixedgrass Prairie

Great Plains Sand Prairie

Great Plains Solonetzic Grassland

Rocky Mountain Low Elevation - Dry Grassland

Semi-Desert Grassland

Wetland and Riparian

Alkaline - Saline Wetlands

Greasewood Shrubland

Great Plains Saline Marsh and Wet Meadow

Intermountain Alkaline - Saline Grassland and Meadow

Alpine Riparian and Wetland

Alpine - Subalpine Herbaceous and Dwarf-Shrub Riparian and Wetland

Peatland

Great Plains Alkaline Fen

Riparian and Wetland Forest

Great Plains Floodplain Forest

Lowland - Montane Riparian Deciduous Forest

Montane - Subalpine Riparian Forest

Montane Forested Wetland

Riparian Shrubland

Great Plains Floodplain Shrubland and Herbland

Lowland - Montane Riparian Shrubland

Montane - Subalpine Riparian and Seep Shrubland

Wet Meadow and Marsh

Arid West Freshwater Marsh and Wet Meadow

Great Plains Freshwater Marsh

Great Plains Wet Meadow, Marsh and Shrub Swamp

Montane Wet Meadow and Marsh

Great Plains Wet Meadow, Riparian Shrubland and Fen

Recently Disturbed or Modified

Harvested Forest

Recently Logged

Introduced Vegetation

Introduced - Upland Herbaceous Vegetation

Recently Burned

Recently Burned Forest

Human Land Use

Agriculture

Cultivated Crops, Dryland

Irrigated Agriculture

Pasture/Hay, Dryland

Developed

Developed - Low and Medium Intensity

Developed - Vegetation

Food Habits

Diet consists of seeds, fruits, arthropods, and young conifer needles.

Reproductive Characteristics

Single brooded species with 4 to 5 eggs per brood. Incubation period 13 to 14 days.

Stewardship Responsibility

References

Literature Cited AboveLegend: View Online Publication
- Marks, J.S., P. Hendricks, and D. Casey. 2016. Birds of Montana. Arrington, VA. Buteo Books. 659 pages.
Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
- American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1998. Check-list of North American birds, 7th edition. American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C. 829 p.
- Cameron, E. S. 1908. The birds of Custer and Dawson counties, Montana. Auk 25:39-56.
- Dood, A.R. 1980. Terry Badlands nongame survey and inventory final report. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and Bureau of Land Management, Helena, MT. 70 pp.
- Ehrlich, P., D. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birder’s handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster Inc. New York. 785 pp.
- Gniadek, S. 1983. Southwest Glendive Wildlife Baseline Inventory. Miles City, Mont: Bureau of Land Management, Miles City District Office. 56 pp with appendices.
- Hand, R.L. 1969. A distributional checklist of the birds of western Montana. Unpublished. Available at Mansfield Library, University of Montana, Missoula.
- Hays, R., R.L. Eng, and C.V. Davis (preparers). 1984. A list of Montana birds. Helena, MT: MT Dept. of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
- Hoffmann, R.S., R.L. Hand, and P.L. Wright. 1959. Recent bird records from western Montana. The Condor 61(2):147-151.
- Johnsgard, P.A. 1992. Birds of the Rocky Mountains with particular reference to national parks in the northern Rocky Mountain region. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. xi + 504 pp.
- Joslin, Gayle, and Heidi B. Youmans. 1999. Effects of recreation on Rocky Mountain wildlife: a review for Montana. [Montana]: Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
- Knopf, F.L. 1986. Changing landscapes and the cosmopolitism of the eastern Colorado avifauna. Wildlife Society Bulletin 14(2):132-142.
- Lenard, S., J. Carlson, J. Ellis, C. Jones, and C. Tilly. 2003. P. D. Skaar's Montana bird distribution, 6th edition. Montana Audubon, Helena, MT. 144 pp.
- Montana Bird Distribution Committee. 2012. P.D. Skaar's Montana bird distribution. 7th Edition. Montana Audubon, Helena, Montana. 208 pp. + foldout map.
- Norment, C.J. and S.A. Shackleton. 1993. Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula). Species Account Number 064. The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved 3/25/2008 from The Birds of North America Online database
- Oechsli, L.M. 2000. Ex-urban development in the Rocky Mountain West: consequences for native vegetation, wildlife diversity, and land-use planning in Big Sky, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 73 p.
- Rising, J.D. 1996. A guide to the identification and natural history of the sparrows of the United States and Canada. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA. 365 pp.
- Sater, S. 2022. The insects of Sevenmile Creek, a pictorial guide to their diversity and ecology. Undergraduate Thesis. Helena, MT: Carroll College. 242 p.
- Sibley, D. 2014. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY. 598 pp.
- Skaar, P. D., D. L. Flath, and L. S. Thompson. 1985. Montana bird distribution. Montana Academy of Sciences Monograph 3(44): ii-69.
- Skaar, P.D. 1969. Birds of the Bozeman latilong: a compilation of data concerning the birds which occur between 45 and 46 N. latitude and 111 and 112 W. longitude, with current lists for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, impinging Montana counties and Yellowstone National Park. Bozeman, MT. 132 p.
- Swan River National Wildlife Refuge. 1982. Birds of the Swan River NWR. Kalispell, MT: NW MT Fish and Wildlife Center pamphlet.
- Taylor, D.M. and C.H. Trost. 1987. The status of historically rare of unrecorded birds in Idaho. Unpublished manuscript. 68 p.
- Thompson, L.S. 1981. Circle West wildlife monitoring study: Third annual report. Technical report No. 8. Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Helena, Montana.
- U.S. Forest Service. 1991. Forest and rangeland birds of the United States: Natural history and habitat use. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Agricultural Handbook 688. 625 pages.
- Watts, C.R. and L.C. Eichhorn. 1981. Changes in the birds of central Montana. Proceedings of the Montana Academy of Sciences 40:31-40.
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Citation for data on this website:
Harris's Sparrow — Zonotrichia querula. Montana Field Guide. Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Retrieved on December 12, 2025, from https://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=ABPBXA4050