Peucaea aestivalis

A large sparrow with a large bill, fairly flat forehead, long dark rounded tail, gray upperparts heavily streaked with chestnut or dark brown, buffy-gray sides of head, a broad grayish-buff superciliary stripe, a thin dark russet line extending back from the eye, buff or gray sides and breast, and whitish belly (NGS 1983). More reddish in the western part of the range, grayer and darker in the south (NGS 1983). Juvenile has a distinct eye ring and streaked throat, breast, and sides; some of the streaking is retained in the first winter (NGS 1983). See Oberholser (1974) and Wolf (1977) for further details. Overall length is about 14-16 cm. Eggs are entirely white and average 19.3 mm by 15.3 mm.

Song is a highly variable combination of whistles and trills on different pitches, sung from a low perch.

When disturbed, often runs through the grass for several feet before flushing.

Differs from the field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) by being larger and having a larger bill that is not pink. Tail is much longer than that of the grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum). Young in summer resemble Lincoln's sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii), but the latter does not occur in the south in summer.

Habitat specialist. Historically, found in mature to old growth southern pine woodland subject to frequent growing-season fires; a fugitive species, breeding wherever fires created suitable conditions. Requires well-developed grass and herb layer with limited shrub and hardwood midstory components. Ideal habitat was originally the extensive longleaf pine woodlands of the south. Able to colonize recent clearcuts and early seral stages of old field succession but such habitat remains suitable only for a short time. Habitats include dry open pine (southern states) or oak woods (e.g., western portion of range) with an undercover of grasses and shrubs, hillsides with patchy brushy areas, overgrown fields with thickets and brambles, grassy orchards, and large clear-cuts (usually at least 20 ha in Virginia). In the southeastern U.S., Coastal Plain breeding habitat usually is open pine woods with thick cover of grasses or saw palmetto; in the Piedmont, mainly in overgrown fields with scattered saplings, occasionally in open woods with thick grass cover (Hamel 1992). Very occasionally breeds along the edges of wheat or corn fields (Blincoe 1921, Graber and Graber 1963, Mengel 1965).

In South Carolina, higher densities were recorded in mature (more than 80 years old) pine stands than in young stands (Dunning and Watts 1990).

In northwestern Florida, inhabited a longleaf pine stand during the first three years after annual spring fires were discontinued; canopy cover was 43% and ground cover was 85%. Five years after the burns stopped canopy cover increased to 91%, ground cover decreased to 21%, and breeding no longer occurred (Engstrom et al. 1984).

In Missouri, breeding areas include red-cedar groves of limestone glades where woody plants constitute less than 33% of the plant cover (Probasco 1978), early succession shrub and grass old fields, shrub and grass savanna, oak-hickory stands cut within the past three years, and stands of shortleaf pines with diameters of less than 7.6 cm (Evans and Kirkman 1981, Hardin et al. 1982). Within 13 territories in limestone glades, shrubs had an average cover of 4.1% and tree cover averaged 2.3% (Hardin et al. 1982). See also Hardin and Probasco (1983).

In the southern states, singing perches generally are on the dead lower branches or stubs of living pine trees (LeGrand and Schneider 1992).

Winters mainly in habitats with dense grassy cover, mostly under open pine woods, also in grassy fields, such as broomsedge (Hamel 1992), scrub oak, and along fence rows; has been recorded in riparian habitats and sometimes along the saltwater shores of coastal woodlands (Burleigh 1958, Bent 1968, Sprunt and Chamberlain 1970, LeGrand and Schneider 1992). In Florida, wintering Bachman’s sparrows were twice as numerous on areas that had been burned 4-6 months earlier (Cox and Jones 2008).

Nests on the ground in dense cover, against/under grass tuft or under low shrub (Harrison 1978), in grassy opening, field, or area with scattered trees. Open, domed nests are built by the female and consist of coarse dry grasses and weed stems lined with finer materials (Blincoe 1921, Ganier 1921, Brooks 1938). Six nests in Alabama were 18-20 cm high and 11.4 cm wide, with a smaller inner cavity (Weston, in Bent 1968). In Florida, bare ground and lower amounts of grass at nest sites are important ground level conditions that begin to decline within the first six months post fire (Jones et al. 2013). Greater than 85% of nests were located in areas burned the previous growing season. Tucker et al. (2006) found that fewer territorial males remained unpaired and breeding productivity was greater in areas burned within the first three years than in older burns.

Spends a great deal of time walking/running rather than flying, and are therefore inextricably linked to the open groundcover conditions created by frequent fire for foraging as well as nesting (Cox and Jones 2007).

Breeding territory was 0.3-1.3 ha (average 0.62 ha) over one breeding cycle in southern Missouri (Hardin et al. 1982), 2.49 ha over the entire breeding season in Arkansas (see LeGrand and Schneider 1992). In Missouri, distances between boundaries of adjacent territories were 65-100 m.

In the southeastern U.S., may begin singing as early as mid-February, two months before breeding (Burleigh 1958, Sprunt and Chamberlain 1970). Eggs are laid from late April through July or August (mostly May-June), with the earliest nests in the south (Burleigh 1958, Oberholser 1974, Bent 1968). Clutch size 3-5, typically 4. Often two, sometimes 3 broods per year (Sprunt and Chamberlain 1970). Incubation, by the female, lasts 12-14 days. Young are tended by both parents (Brooks 1938), leave nest at about 9-10 days while unable to fly, continue to be fed by parents for about 25 days, during which time the female may initiate another nest and the male may assume most of the feeding responsibilities. Generally, adults do not fly directly to or from the nest (walk to or from it after landing or before flying). Nest failures seem to result mainly from predation (e.g., by crows or snakes); some reproductive failure or reduction may occur as a result of nest parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) (Bent 1968, Hardin and Probasco 1983, Haggerty 1988).