Stats

Lifespan: 3-5 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Omnivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Flock
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: South America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

A strikingly patterned sparrow of highland Latin America and the Caribbean, instantly recognised by its bright rufous chest-band and bold black-and-white head stripes. It is one of the most common and adaptable birds in South America, thriving from sea-level scrub to Andean grassland above 4,000 m.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A small clutch of speckled eggs is incubated in a cup nest, turned and kept warm by the parent.
2.
hatchling
A pink, blind hatchling is fed by its parents in the nest, gaping its bill at every visit.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to fly and to forage close to its parents.
4.
adult
Fully grown with adult plumage and song.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passerellidae
Genus: Zonotrichia
Species: Zonotrichia capensis