Artemis Sparrow

 

Click image to enlarge

Artemis Sparrow, Novaspiza artemisia  L 13-17 cm, WS 18-22 cm, Family: Passerellidae

 

IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)

 

Description:    

Medium-sized sparrow with a long tail, short, rounded wings, and a conical bill. Dull tan/brown above, whitish below, with cream to white lores and throat, a brown malar stripe, and a dark patch below the eye. Crown often raised to give a peaked or crested appearance. Dark spotting along flanks. Males and females indistinguishable, juveniles show heavy streaking on breast and back. Best distinguished from other native sparrows by plain, mostly unmarked plumage.

Voice:

Very vocal. Song is a complex series of buzzes, trills, and sharp notes, often lasting around one to two seconds. It begins with a buzzy trill, followed by 4 to 5 sharp chit notes, then another buzz then an ending garble. The song is similar to that of the Reichwald’s Sparrow, but shorter and more monotone. Sings and calls frequently. Calls variable, but include sharp chits, buzzes, and notably a harsh, shrill chatter typical of the genus. The chatter calls sound similar to scold calls and are often described as sounding like a “heated argument” and is heard mostly in flocks.  

Range and Habitat:    

Year-round range limited to the interior prairie and Fairweather Sound region. Uncommonly may be found in the Eastern Range. A small population lives on East Francis Island. They breed in arid scrubland and grassland across the prairie and are heavily associated with sagebrush ecosystems, though they may also utilize thickets and shrub-dominated ecosystems like scrubland and chaparral, riparian thickets, grassland, and meadows outside the prairie.

Discussion:      

Small birds of the arid steppe, Artemis Sparrows are common through their range but are often hard to observe, preferring to stay under the cover of dense shrubs, and are thus not well-known. The Artemis Sparrow, along with the closely related Reichwald’s Sparrow, are unique among sparrows for their calls and nomadic behavior.

Artemis Sparrows are nomadic, constantly moving across the landscape and they do not defend territories. This lifestyle is thought to have evolved as a strategy to quickly cope with changing weather conditions, food availability, and mass herd migrations of quadrupedal mammals like bison or elk. Because they do not defend territories, they have low site fidelity, meaning they do not often return to the same breeding areas each year, which makes studying them difficult, as it is almost impossible to predict where an individual sparrow may end up each season. Males are especially nomadic and may move great distances over the duration of a season.

During the mating season, male sparrows will sing from within shrubs or thickets constantly throughout the day to attract females. Since males do not defend territories, females will mate with them and then move on to build a nest. Females do all the work building nests, incubating eggs, and rearing chicks. Nests are a small depression in the ground lined with feathers, usually under the cover of a dense shrub like sagebrush, rabbitbrush, or manzanita, but they may build under bunchgrasses or other herbaceous cover.

Artemis Sparrows forage on the ground or low in foliage, preferring dense cover, hopping along searching for food. Their diets include invertebrates like beetles, grasshoppers, ants, spiders, caterpillars, flies, dragonflies, and worms, as well as plant matter like berries, leaves, and seeds, especially during the winter. During the breeding season they are solitary, but outside the season they are social birds and will forage in small to large flocks. Some males will flock together in bachelor groups during the breeding season, however. When flocked Artemis Sparrows emit their distinctive chattering calls, harsh and constant. This aggressive, argumentative sounding, scold-like calling is likely a social behavior meant to strengthen flock relationships, as it is rarely heard from solitary individuals. This calling is very similar to Reichwald’s Sparrows, with which they are known to hybridize. Artemis Sparrows may also be found in mixed flocks with other sparrows, especially Reichwald’s Sparrows.

The Artemis Sparrow is one of two species in the genus Novaspiza, with the other being the Reichwald’s Sparrow. The genus is unique to Novasola and each species was originally described by Richard Reichwald in 1902. The name Artemis is a bit of a fascinating coincidence. The bird’s common name “Artemis Sparrow” had already been coined by earlier explorers, who named the bird after the small town where it was most common. The town, Artemis, would later grow and become the state’s capital. There are conflicting theories as to how Artemis the place was named. The sparrows were common in the chapparal and shrubland of the area, but when Richard Reichwald studied them during the NRC expeditions he noted their association with sagebrush and wanted to indicate such with their species name. Coincidentally, the scientific name for sagebrush is Artemisia, so while the term Artemis appears in both the bird’s common and Latin names, they are in a way unrelated. Artemis Sparrows share much in common with the Sagebrush Sparrow and Bell’s Sparrow in the genus Artemisiospiza, also named after the sagebrush, but the similarities are thought to be an example of convergent evolution.

The Yukandaluk word for the bird, and the Reichwald’s Sparrow, is sinixtuqcucix, roughly meaning “angry/spiteful bird”, and they feature in prairie tribe mythology, often as a humorous but narcissistic character.

The Artemis Sparrow is an emblematic songbird of Novasola’s intermountain prairie. Because they spend most of their time on the ground beneath dense shrub cover Artemis Sparrows can be a challenge for identification, but their harsh calls and preference for undisturbed sagebrush help set them apart.

“The camp is nicely situated atop a knoll overlooking the bend to the west and the vast stretch of grass and sage to the east wherefrom sunrise tomorrow will stain the world orange. Mr. Peterson, having returned from a scouting party, saw a herd of elk just over the next rise, and Captain Dyer assured us we are in friendly country.

…

Sparrows of a cryptic sort abound. Though I am sure to have heard their chattering calls on more than one occasion this trip already, it was not until now, sufficiently inland where the land has dried and widens into this open prairie that I hear them in great numbers. I have observed this bird in brief, but have yet to acquire a better examination. For now, I must be content to report a plain, sand-colored bunting which spends the bulk of its time on the ground.” – Expedition log, May 15, 1902

“The Artemis Sparrow is brother to the Buff Sided Sparrow, and shares with it so many traits, not least of which being its scolding voice and its unpredictability. Indeed they even make homes in much the same way, preferring to inhabit dense scrub and shrubbery. Where they differ is in their greater habitats. The Buff Sided Sparrow may be found across the Fastwaters, bounding about the undergrowth in grassland and forest alike, the Artemis avoids areas with so much as a single tree, limited to the dry interior. Thus the Artemis’ nomadic movements are much inferior in distance.” – Manual to Novasolan Birds, 1914