Wintering Artemisiospiza Sparrows: Status, Distribution and Identification of Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrows in the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts

Chris McCreedy

Tue, Jan 30, 2024 7:00 PM

Both Sagebrush and Bell’s Sparrows winter in southeastern California and western Arizona. Species-specific wintering habitat preferences and the degree to which the two species segregate or interact on their wintering grounds nonetheless remained largely undescribed until recently. This knowledge gap was due to the species’ apparent niche overlap during the nonbreeding season, the difficulty of separating the two species in the field, and to the very recent taxonomic separation of Artemisiospiza belli canescens and A. nevadensis into separate species. Chris has conducted research to shed light on the identification, distribution, and habitat questions of Bell’s and Sagebrush Sparrows.

Kimball Garrett will join Chris during the webinar to give a recap of the Great Sagebrush Sparrow Hunt in the Antelope Valley of Los Angeles County during the winter of 2019–2020.

Join Chris and Kimball for an enlightening webinar on a challenging topic of the status of Sagebrush and Bell’s Sparrows in the deserts of California.

Please see Chris’s paper about Artemisiospiza sparrows.

Here is a video of the webinar: