Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

      (Jack Pine (Regen))
      or Bog
      or Treed Bog

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: Like the Hermit Thrush and Nashville Warbler, the Lincoln's Sparrow nests in muskegs with black spruce and tamarack, bogs, and jack-pine plains but is more locally distributed than either of those two species. Lincoln's Sparrows seem to prefer areas with a low, but structurally complex ground layer with openings of sedges or grasses. In Ontario this sparrow occurs in low shrubby areas (dry or wet) with grass and sedge dominated openings.

Bogs with a dense layer of leatherleaf and sphagnum mosses are favored nesting areas and here, with patience, diligence, and a good measure of luck, nests can be found sunk into mossy hummocks. Fallen trees and debris resulting from fires and logging seem to provide good habitat for Lincoln's Sparrows in early succession jack pine stands; here the ground nests are concealed under clumps of sedges and grasses. My observations agree with Walkinshaw's that Lincoln's Sparrow are rarely parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Habitat: Breeding: Thickets of alder and willow along bogs, lakes, and streams. Natural brushy openings and clearings created by fire or cutting, dry rocky hillsides with low shrub growth.

Special Habitat Requirements: Needs low brushy growth 4 to 8 feet high with openings of grasses or sedges.

Habitat: Willow and alder thickets, muskeg, brushy bogs. Breeds in northern and mountainous areas in dense low vegetation near water, such as streamside willow groves, bushy edges of bogs, brushy clearings in wet coniferous forest.

Diet: Mostly insects and seeds. Feeds on many insects, especially in summer, including caterpillars, beetles, moths, ants, and flies, also spiders and millipedes. Seeds probably make up majority of diet, especially in winter; included are seeds of weeds and grasses. Young are probably fed entirely on insects.

Nest: Site is on ground, very well hidden under clump of grass or under dense shrubbery, often sunken in a depression in sphagnum moss or other ground cover. Nest is a shallow open cup of grasses or sedges, lined with fine grass and sometimes animal hair.