Description: The golden-crowned sparrow is a small bird about 7″ long. They’re primarily brown with a gray face, bright yellow forecrown, black eyebrows, and white tips on wings. In the winter, the cap fades to a muted yellow and eyebrows to a soft gray. The bill also becomes darker. The females are similar.
Diet: Seeds, buds, berries, and insects.
Feeder food: Black-oil sunflower seed, hulled sunflower seed, safflower, cracked corn, peanut hearts, millet, and milo.
Habitat: In winter can be found in thickets, chaparral, backyards, and city parks. During breeding season they prefer treelines, and patches of willow & adler trees along the Alaskan and British Columbian coasts
Nesting: Golden-crowned sparrows built a cup-shaped nest comprised of twigs, bark, moss and other vegetation. It’s usually placed on the ground concealed by vegetation. They have 1-2 broods/season, 3-5 eggs/brood, incubation is for 11-12 days, and fledglings leave the nest at 9-11 days.
Migration: Golden-crowned sparrows are migrators. In the spring they migrate north to Alaska and British Columbia to nest and raise their young. Then in the fall, they migrate south along the Pacific coast and inland Washington, Oregon, California and along the Nevada/Arizona/California state lines.
Range Map
