Bruant à gorge noire— Quebec wildlife

The black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Mexico and the United States.

Description

The black-throated sparrow is about 12 to 14 cm (4.7 to 5.5 in) long, weighs 11 to 15 g (0.39 to 0.53 oz), and has a wingspan of about 19.5 cm (7.7 in). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. b. bilineata have a black forehead, a gray crown and nape, a white supercilium and malar stripe both with thin black borders, black lores, and dark slate ear coverts. Their back and scapulars are brownish gray and their uppertail coverts mouse gray. Their tail is mostly brownish black. The innermost pair of feathers are fuscous and the outermost pair have white edges on the outer webs and a white spot near the end of the inner webs. Their wing's greater and median coverts and their tertials are dark olive-brown with buff edges. Their primaries and secondaries are brown and light fuscous with varying amounts of white on their edges. Their chin, throat, and center of their upper breast are black. The rest of their underparts are white with a plumbeous tinge on the sides and flanks. The other subspecies of the black-throated sparrow differ from the nominate and each other thus: A. b. opuntia: grayish mantle, small white tips on outer tail feathers, whitish underparts A. b. deserticola: grayish brown mantle, small white tips on outer tail feathers, whitish underparts A. b. bangsi: like deserticola but grayer and darker mantle and larger white tail feather tips A. b. tortugae: slate gray mantle and grayish underparts A. b. belvederei: like tortugae but darker gray mantle A. b. pacifica: like deserticola but darker A. b. cana: like deserticola but grayer and with larger white tail feather tips A. b. grisea: like nominate but darker overall, a grayer mantle, and smaller white tail feather tips All subspecies have a dark grayish brown iris, a dark maxilla, a bluish gray mandible, and black or brownish plumbeous legs and feet.