New World finches

(Emberizidae)

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Suborder: Passeri (Oscines)

Family: Emberizidae

Thumbnail description
Small to medium-sized, highly vocal songbirds with short, conical bill and short to medium-length tail; most species have brown, olive, or gray plumage, but many are brightly colored

Size
4–9.5 in (10–24 cm); 0.3–2.6 oz (8–75 g)

Number of genera, species
72 genera; 291 species

Habitat
Grasslands, marshes, arctic tundra, alpine meadows, open woodlands, park land, and hedgerows

Conservation status
Critically Endangered: 6 species; Endangered: 7 species; Vulnerable: 9 species; Near Threatened: 2 species

Distribution
Practically worldwide; absent from extreme Southeast Asia, Australasia (introduced into New Zealand), and Madagascar

Evolution and systematics

Buntings and New World sparrows are variously treated as a family (Emberizidae; New World finches) or as a sub-family (Emberizinae) of the Fringillidae. Most commonly, however, these are recognized as distinct families. No direct information exists about the origin of these closely related families, but scientists believe that they must have evolved in the New World. Currently all but the Emberizidae are restricted to the New World, and even the buntings are most diverse in the Americas (only 42 species in five genera are found elsewhere). All of the known fossils are from the New World and date from the Lower Pliocene to the Holocene.

Physical characteristics

Emberizids range in size from petite blue-black grassquits (Volatinia jacarina) that weigh as little as 0.28 oz (8 g) to California towhees (Pipilo crissalis) that weigh up to 2 oz (60 g). Many species have subdued brown, beige, or gray colors, commonly with complex facial patterns of black, white, buff, and sometime yellow stripes. Males generally are somewhat larger than females. In many species the sexes are alike in plumage pattern, but in others males and females look strikingly different. Many buntings feed on the ground and have medium-sized legs with rather large feet; some hop on the ground whereas others run. Relatively short, conical bills are characteristic.

Distribution

Emberizids are found throughout the New World, from Greenland to the islands in Arctic Canada and south to Cape Horn. Several species live in the Galápagos Islands. In the Old World, buntings are found across Eurasia south to India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Borneo (in winter), and throughout Africa (but not Madagascar). They are not found in extreme southeastern Asia or in New Guinea or Australia; two species have been introduced into New Zealand.

Habitat

Buntings and New World sparrows live in a variety of habitats, but most inhabit fairly open, brushy, or grassland areas. Of the many species of buntings that breed and winter in grasslands, some inhabit short, dry grasslands, whereas others live in tall grass in wet meadows. Some emberizids inhabit arctic or alpine tundra; others breed in marshes or woodlands.

Behavior

Although sparrows commonly sing at night during breeding season, they are diurnal. Most sparrows and buntings are territorial, and territorial males use song, chasing, and fights to defend their territories, which generally serve as a place to build a nest and to forage. When singing, males often sit in a conspicuous place and throw back their head to sing. Commonly, they sing with the feathers of their crown or rump ruffed. Many species, especially those that live in tundra or prairies, sing their songs while in flight as a part of an elaborate flight display. When soliciting food or copulation, sparrows generally point their head forward, more-or-less parallel with the ground, elevate their tail, and shiver their wings.

During migration and winter, sparrows may be seen in small, loose, often mixed-species flocks. Some species, however, form large flocks.

Feeding ecology and diet

Most sparrows feed on or near the ground as they pick up insects or fallen grass seeds. Some scratch away leaf litter to find food. Towhees (Pipilo) use a distinctive double scratch when feeding: they remain stationary while scratching backward simultaneously with both feet. The conical bill efficiently handles and shells seeds; large-billed species can crack hard seeds that many other birds could not eat. Some species, especially seedeaters (Sporophila) and grassquits (Volitinia and Tiaris), feed almost exclusively on seeds; they cling to tall grass and pick seeds from seed heads. Although seeds are an important part of the winter diet of almost all species, during nesting seasons most feed insects to their nestlings. Fruit is eaten when available. Woodpecker finches (Cactospiza pallida) of the Galápagos Islands hold a cactus spine or stick in their bill and use it to pry insects and their larvae from dead branches.

Reproductive biology

Most buntings and New World sparrows are socially monogamous (during any single breeding season a single male is associated with a single female), but there are exceptions. In some species, and in some populations within a species, males are polygynous (one male mated with two or more females). Polygyny in sparrows often seems to occur when birds nest in high density. In a few sparrow species no pair bond is formed. Rather, during any breeding season individuals of both sexes mate promiscuously. In all sparrows the female alone incubates the eggs, but in general, both members of a pair help to feed and care for the young.

Conservation status

Seven emberizid species are listed as Endangered, six as Critically Endangered, nine as Vulnerable, and two as Lower Risk/Near Threatened. For example, pale-headed brush-finches (Atlapetes pallidiceps), a species found only in southwestern Ecuador, is threatened by the near total removal of vegetation in its tiny range, and it may be extinct. Sierra Madre sparrows (Xenospiza baileyi) of south central Mexico were never widespread but now are limited to a small area of bunch-grass habitat just south of Mexico City. Cuban sparrows (Torreornis inexpectata) are scrub-dwelling birds found in three different areas of Cuba; each of these populations is small, and they are threatened by habitat destruction. In eastern North America, many sparrows are declining in numbers or have disappeared as marginal farms have been abandoned and reverted to woodlands or as urban development has replaced meadows. Similarly, in northwestern Europe, some species that inhabit open country have declined in numbers, probably because of changes in farming practices. In central and western North America, many grassland species are declining as a consequence of habitat degradation. Many of the Central and South American seedeaters are popular cage birds, and intense commercial trapping, particularly in northern Argentina, has led to substantial declines in many populations.

Significance to humans

Many species of buntings have pretty songs and are popular as cage birds in many parts of the world. Although many species eat substantial numbers of insects that may be agricultural pests, they probably do not destroy insects in sufficient quantities to be of economic significance.

Species accounts

Resources

Byers, C., U. Olsson, and J. Curson. Buntings and Sparrows. Sussex: Pica Press, 1995.

Collar, N.J., LP. Gonzaga, N. Krabbe, A. Madroño Nieto, L.G. Naranjo, T.A. Parker III, and D.C. Wrege. Threatened Birds of the Americas. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.

Cramp, S., and C.M. Perrins, eds. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Vol. 9. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Ridgely, R.S., and G. Tudor. The Birds of South America. Vol. 1. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989.

Rising, J.D., and D.D. Beadle. A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of the Sparrows of the United States and Canada. London: Academic Press, 1996.

[Article by: James David Rising, PhD]

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: buntings and some New World sparrows
  Synonyms: subfamily Emberizidae, subfamily Emberizinae