Chondestes grammacus

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Found in sandy, brushy areas.

Vegetation: arid lowland scrubs, arid montane scrubs, northern temperate grasslands, arid lowland scrubs, second-growth scrub • Minimum Elevation: 1,100 meters • Maximum Elevation: 2,400 meters • Foraging Strata: Terrestrial • Center of Abundance: Upper subtropical: higher slopes, 500-1,600 m.; subtropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: Low

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,793 meters (0 to 12,444 feet).[1]

Ecology: List of Habitats : 3.5 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 3.7 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude 4.4 Grassland - Temperate 14.6 Artificial/Terrestrial - Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest

Biology

Diet

Primarily: Insects Seeds

Reproduction

• Breeding Habitat : Successional-scrub
• Nest Location: Ground-low nesting
• Nest Type: Open-cup
• Clutch Size: 4-5
• Length of Incubation : 11-12 days
• Days to Fledge : 9-10
• Number of Broods: 1

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001.

Similar Species

Adults are very distinctive with their bold face patterns and black spot on the breast. Juveniles have enough of the face pattern of the adults to be identifiable.

Members of the genus Chondestes

There are approximately 4 species in this genus:

C. grammaca · C. grammacus (Little Meadowlark) · C. grammacus grammacus (Little Meadowlark) · C. grammacus strigatus

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A checklist of the vertebrate animals of Kansas / George D. Potts, Joseph T. Collins. [Lawrence, Kan.]: Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, 1991. ENG url p. 17.
• A manual of North American birds. By Robert Ridgway. Illustrated by 464 outline drawings of the generic characters. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1887. ENG url p. 414, p. 625.
• A popular handbook of the birds of the United States and Canada, by Thomas Nuttall. Boston, Little, Brown, 1903. ENG url p. 317, p. 419.
• Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
• Annual report / Entomological Society of Ontario. Toronto, The Society. ENG url p. 25.
• Asteroid notes. Northfield, Minn, Goodsell Observatory of Carleton College, 1934-1950. ENG url p. 260.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C., USA. 79.
• Bird guide: land birds east of the Rockies from parrots to bluebirds / by Chester A. Reed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1916, c1909. ENG url p. 95.
• Bird-life: a guide to the study of our common birds / by Frank M. Chapman; illustrated by Ernest Seton Thompson. New York: Appleton, 1900. ENG url p. 190.
• Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds, by Frank M. Chapman, with plates and text drawings by Ernest Seton Thompson. New York, D. Appleton and co., 1899. ENG url p. 264.
• Bird-lore. New York, National Association of Audubon Societies. ENG url p. 349.
• BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
• BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
• Birds and nature in natural colors: being a scientific and popular treatise on four hundred birds of the United States and Canada. Chicago: A.W. Mumford, Publisher, 1913-1914. ENG url p. 153, p. 774.
• Birds of eastern Canada, by P. A. Taverner. Ottawa, J. de L. Tachprinter, 1919. ENG url p. 172, p. 276.
• Birds of the Pacific coast, including a brief account of the distribution and habitat of one hundred and eighteen birds that are more or less common to the Pacific coast states and British Columbia, many of which are found east by Willard Ayres Eliot; wi New York, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1923. ENG url p. 194.
• Birds of the Rockies, by Leander S. Keyser... with eight full-page plates [four in color] by Louis Agassiz Fuertes; many illustrations in the text by Bruce Horsfall, and eight views of localities from photographs; with a c Chicago, A. C. McClurg and co., 1902. ENG url p. 334.
• Birds of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains; a manual for the identification of species in hand or in the bush, by Austin C. Apgar. New York, American book company[c1898] ENG url p. 399.
• Birds of village and field: a bird book for beginners, by Florence A. Merriam. Illustrated. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1898. ENG url p. 237, p. 400.
• Brigham Young University science bulletin. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, [1955-1976] ENG url p. 31, p. 72.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 158, p. 176, p. 178, p. 180, p. 1829, p. 1877, p. 257, p. 261, p. 271, p. 886.
• Bulletin / Peabody Museum of Natural History. New Haven: The Museum, ENG url p. 105, p. 191.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, ENG url p. 239, p. 643, p. 652.
• Bulletin of the scientific laboratories of Denison University. Granville, Ohio: [The University], 1885- ENG url p. 140.
• Cassinia. Philadelphia, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. ENG url p. 74.
• Catalogue of Canadian birds, by John Macoun and James M. Macoun Ottawa, Government printing bureau, 1909. ENG url p. 508, p. 509.
• Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum / By E. W. Oates [and afterwards] by S. G. Reid [and] W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. London, 1901-12. ENG url p. 260.
• Catalogue of the fresh-water fishes of Africa in the British museum (Natural history) By George Albert Boulenger, F.R.S. London, Printed by order of the Trustees [by Taylor and Francis]1909-16. ENG url p. 24, p. 25, p. 30, p. 34, p. 74.
• Check-list of North American birds / prepared by a committee of the American ornithologists' union. Lancaster, Pa.: The Union, 1931. ENG url p. 519.
• Color key to North American birds, by Frank M. Chapman with upward of 800 drawings by Chester A. Reed, B. S. New York, Doubleday, Page and company, 1903. ENG url p. 218, p. 279, p. 294.
• Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
• Fauna of New England, 11: list of the aves / by Glover M. Allen. Boston: Society of Natural History, 1909. ENG url p. 158.
• Fauna of New England. List of the Araneida. Boston, For Society, 1908. ENG url p. 7.
• First report of the Michigan Academy of Science: covering the time from the organization of the Academy in 1894 to June 30, 1899 / by Walter B. Barrows; prepared under the direction of the Council. Lansing, Mich.: R. Smith, 1900. ENG url p. 166.
• First report of the state zoist: accompanied with Notes on the birds of Minnesota / by P.L. Hatch, Henry F. Nachtrieb, state zoist. Minneapolis: Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota: 1892. ENG url p. 454.
• Great Basin naturalist memoirs. [Provo, Utah]Brigham Young University, 1976-1992. ENG url p. 227.
• Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande valley, by Florence Merriam Bailey, with thirty-three full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and over six hundred cuts in the Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1904. ENG url p. 336.
• History of the birds of Kansas. By N. S. Goss. Illustrating 529 birds. Topeka, Kan., G. W. Crane, 1891. ENG url p. 451.
• Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, 1886- ENG url p. 268, p. 336.
• Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History. San Diego, Calif.: The Society, 1931- ENG url p. 268.
• Michigan bird life: a list of all the bird species known to occur in the State together with an outline of their classification and an account of the life history of each species, with special reference to its relation t by Walter Bradford Barrows. Lansing: Michigan Agricultural College, 1912. ENG url p. 498, p. 799.
• Miscellaneous publication - University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas, 1946-1996. ENG url p. 57, p. 6, p. 62.
• Nests and eggs of North American birds; by Oliver Davie. Columbus [O.]Hann and Adair, 1889. ENG url p. 303.
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, ENG url p. 269.
• Ornithologist and oist. Pawtucket, R.I. ENG url p. 106.
• Our living resources: a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems / [edited by], Edward T. LaRoe [et al.]. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Biological Service, 1995. ENG url p. 297, p. 299, p. 491, p. 522.
• Pacific coast avifauna / Cooper Ornithological Club of California. Santa Clara, Calif.: The Club, 1900-1974. ENG url p. 119, p. 158, p. 38, p. 46.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. [Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia] ENG url p. 109, p. 489, p. 84.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. [Washington, Biological Society of Washington] ENG url p. 194.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. ENG url p. 520, p. 599, p. 799.
• Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Indianapolis, Ind.[s.n.] ENG url p. 154.
• Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union. Lincoln, [1900-15] ENG url p. 31.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] ENG url p. 338, p. 527, p. 570, p. 577, p. 592, p. 592, p. 671, p. 674.
• Report of the Michigan Academy of Science. Lansing, Mich.: The Academy, 1900-1904. ENG url p. 166.
• Report of the State Zo©logist. Minneapolis. ENG url p. 318, p. 454.
• Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. ENG url p. 101.
• Teachers' manual of bird-life: a guide to the study of our common birds / by Frank M. Chapman. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1899. ENG url p. 190.
• The Great Basin naturalist. Provo, Utah, M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University. ENG url p. 250, p. 267, p. 485, p. 499, p. 53, p. 578, p. 654, p. 736.
• The Ohio journal of science. [Columbus, Ohio, The Ohio State University and the Ohio Academy of Science] ENG url p. 375, p. 423, p. 43.
• The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science. Des moines, Iowa: The Academy, [1889-1987] ENG url p. 100.
• The University of Kansas science bulletin. [Lawrence]: University of Kansas, 1902-1996. ENG url p. 1217, p. 1279, p. 1284, p. 1356, p. 1358, p. 1360, p. 1371.
• The birds of Illinois and Wisconsin. Chicago, 1909. ENG url p. 204, p. 213, p. 218, p. 218, p. 589, p. 589, p. 727, p. 729, p. 734, p. 753, p. 753.
• The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state. With introd. and analytical keys by Lynds Jones; illustrated with photos. taken by the author and others. Columbus, Wheaton Pub. Co., 1903. ENG url p. 63.
• The birds of Ontario; being a concise account of every species of bird known to have been found in Ontario with a description of their nests and eggs and instructions for collecting birds and preparing and preserving skins By Thomas McIlwraith. London, T. F. Unwin, 1894. ENG url p. 317.
• The birds of eastern North America known to occur east of the ninetieth meridian by Charles B. Cory Chicago, Special edition printed for the Field Columbian museum, 1899. ENG url p. 255, p. 372.
• The birds of eastern North America: known to occur east of the ninetieth meridian / by Charles B. Cory. Chicago: Field Columbian Museum, 1899. ENG url p. 372.
• The book of birds; common birds of town and country and American game birds, by Henry W. Henshaw; illustrated in natural colors with 250 paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Washington, D.C., National geographic society[1921] ENG url p. 34.
• The code of nomenclature and check-list of North American birds adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union; being the report of the Committee of the Union on Classification and Nomenclature. New York, 1886. ENG url p. 270.
• The naturalist's guide in collecting and preserving objects of natural history: with a complete catalogue of the birds of the eastern Massachusetts / by C.J. Maynard; with illustrations by E.L. Weeks. Boston: Osgood, 1873, c1870. ENG url p. 112.
• The oist. Albion, N.Y.: Frank H. Lattin, 1886-1941. ENG url p. 113, p. 225.
• The ornithology of Illinois / [by Robert Ridgway and S.A. Forbes]. Springfield, Ill., H.W. Rokker, printer, 1889-1895. ENG url p. 262.
• The ornithology of Illinois. Part I. Descriptive catalogue. By Robert Ridgway. Part II. Economic ornithology. By S. A. Forbes. Pub. by the authority of the state Legislature. Springfield, Ill., H. W. Rokker, printer, 1889-95. ENG url p. 262.
• The transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. St. Louis: The Academy, 1860-1958. ENG url p. 270.
• Transactions of the Academy of Science of Saint Louis. [St. Louis, Academy of Science of St. Louis] ENG url p. 270.
• Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Topeka, Kan.: W.Y. Morgan, 1903- ENG url p. 172, p. 239.
• Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Science and Literature. Baltimore: The Academy, 1837. ENG url p. 333, p. 376.
• Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. [San Diego]: The Society, 1905- ENG url p. 297, p. 48, p. 52.
• University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas. ENG url p. 163, p. 304, p. 351, p. 580, p. 649, p. 650, p. 652, p. 657, p. 671, p. 677, p. 683, p. 693, p. 698.
• Western birds, by Harriet Williams Myers. New York, The Macmillan company, 1922. ENG url p. 386.
• Zoe: a biological journal. San Francisco. ENG url p. 144.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 4, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 10, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 12 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, and quot;Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds, and quot; in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 10, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Avian Knowledge Network: Project FeederWatch
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 1981-1985
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 2001-2005
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal British Columbia Museum
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Bird Collection
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: MCZ Ornithology Collection
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• New Brunswick Museum: NBM birds
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM: CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
• University of Alaska Museum of the North: MSB Birds Specimens
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3850276
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-179373
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13384393
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 179371
• IUCN ID: 53572
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABPBX96010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 13616

Footnotes

1. Mean = 728.030 meters (2,388.550 feet), Standard Deviation = 674.590 based on 14,336 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

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