Birds Of Southern California

Black-chinned Sparrow (Spizella atrogularis)

The Black-chinned Sparrow (Spizella atrogularis) is a small sparrow. An excellent location to find this bird in Orange County is the Bell View Trail NE in Rancho Santa Margarita during the month of May (in particular mid May). On May 10, 2015, I was about 1 mile up on he trail at 6:40pm and heard the unique song of the Black-chinned Sparrow. Moments later I successfully found the spcies cling to a chaparral. Outside of their song, this sparrow is easily identifiable by its whitish/gray plain chest and of course black chin. Other ID points are its plain grayish white undertail which lacks any pattern. Photos from this session are included in the photo gallery. This passerine bird is generally found in chaparral, sagebrush, arid scrublands, and brushy hillsides, breeding in the Southwestern United States (western Texas to southern California), and migrating in winter to north-central Mexico and Baja California Sur. There is also a non-migratory population in central Mexico. (Source Wikipedia)