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Peucaea aestivalis (Lichtenstein, 1823)
Bachman's Sparrow
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: Rare
Global Rank: G3
State Rank: S2
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP High Priority Species (SGCN): Yes
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 340
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Open pine or oak woods; old fields; brushy areas, young large grassy pine regeneration areas
The Bachman's sparrow is 12.5-15.2 cm (4.9-6.0 in) in length and weighs 18-22 grams (0.65-0.8 oz). Adult birds have a gray face with a reddish-brown cap on the top of the head and a thin reddish-brown stripe that runs from the back of the eye to the nape. The cheek, throat, and upper breast are buff to grayish. The lower breast and abdomen are lighter buff to whitish. Alternating reddish-brown and gray vertical stripes run down the nape of the neck and back to the top of the rump. Wing feathers and the feathers of its long, rounded tail are reddish-brown. Legs are yellow to brownish-gray in color and the bill is grayish to dull grayish-brown.
The Bachman's Sparrow could be confused with the rufous form of the field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) and the immature swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana). The field sparrow differs by having a very distinct white eye-ring, pink bill, white wing bars, gray nape, and reddish-brown back with thin black stripes rather than reddish-brown and gray stripes. Immature swamp sparrows have a dark brown cap, gray face and nape, thin dark stripe behind the eye that does not extend to the nape, and a whitish chin with a thin black malar (mustache) stripe. The back is reddish-brown with wide, dark striping that does not extend up the neck. Wing and tail feathers are a dark rufous color. Field sparrows often use some of the same microhabitats as Bachman's sparrows while most often swamp sparrows inhabit damp or wet brushy areas in fields and open woods.
Mature open pinewoods, regenerating clear-cuts (both pine and hardwood), utility rights-of-way, and old pastures with a dense ground cover of grasses (particularly wiregrass, bluestem, or broomsedge) and forbs, or palmetto scrub. This sparrow is often associated with open, mature pine forests where red-cockaded woodpeckers are found, since this habitat often provides the thick grassy ground cover this sparrow prefers. However, it will be lost from these sites well before the red-cockaded woodpecker if burning is not frequent enough since it does not tolerate encroachment by hardwood trees and shrubs.
Invertebrates, including beetles and weevils, grasshoppers, Lepidoptera, crickets, millipedes, snails, and spiders; seeds of grasses (especially Panicum), sedges, and some forbs gleaned from the ground surface.
The Bachman's sparrow is secretive and shy most of the year and due to its habit of stealthily running on the ground through dense cover it is difficult to see. Territorial singing by males may start as early as February in the Coastal Plain and often continues through the summer. Singing activity declines as nesting progresses, though later increases as subsequent nesting attempts are made. Males will sing from the ground, low shrubs, and the lower branches of pine trees. Their distinctive song is a series of whistles and trills. Nesting usually starts in April and can last through August. The female lays 3 or 4 eggs (range 2-5) in a nest she constructs at the base of a grass clump, small shrub, or pine seedling. The nest, made of grasses, forbs, and rootlets, is usually domed. Eggs take 12-14 days to hatch and fledging occurs 9-10 days later. The female does all of the incubating and brooding, but both parents feed the young, which disperse from the natal area three weeks to a month after fledging. This species will usually have two, and possibly three, broods per year.
The most effective survey method for this species during the breeding season is the use of point counts, particularly the aural component which includes listening for singing males as they advertise their territories. These counts can be conducted along transects, such as roads, to increase efficiency and maximize the number of points covered. Territorial singing is most consistent during the first three hours after sunrise on sunny days from March through June. Another method, call playback, can be effective during the breeding season and throughout the year in good habitat where this sparrow may remain territorial year-round. From 2006-2008 Wildlife Conservation Section staff conducted baseline surveys for Bachman’s sparrows at several sites on state conservation lands slated for habitat restoration. These lands included Dawson Forest, Tuckahoe, Yuchi, Di-Lane, Clarks Hill, Ocmulgee, Rum Creek, Sandhills, Chickasawatchee, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, and Silver Lake WMAs. Baseline surveys provided data used to gauge changes in habitat suitability after restoration. Follow up surveys were conducted at many of these sites in 2018-2019 to help determine whether these restoration efforts were effective in increasing Bachman’s sparrow numbers. Additional surveys will be run at many of these sites, as well as other sites, in coming years.
Found throughout much of the southeastern United States, this species was once much more common and widely distributed within this region. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, populations expanded northward, probably in response to creation of suitable habitat conditions as forests were cleared and farms abandoned, and it could be found as far north as southwestern Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In Georgia this bird is primarily found in the Coastal Plain with scattered sites across the southern Piedmont and occasional reports from the northern Piedmont and mountains.
The Bachman's sparrow has become increasingly rare with changes in agriculture and forestry. Much of this decline is probably due to conversion of grassy fields to row crops or intensively grazed pastures, fire suppression in forested habitats, and dense stocking of pine seedlings when replanting. Continued expansion of these practices to areas of suitable habitat will lead to further reduction of Bachman's sparrow populations.
Major concentrations occur at quail plantations in the southwest corner of the state, particularly the Red Hills region, at Joseph Jones Ecological Research Center, Ft. Benning, Ft. Stewart, Okefenokee and Piedmont National Wildlife Refuges, and Oconee National Forest. Additional populations are found at Dawson Forest, Yuchi, Di-Lane, Clarks Hill, Moody Forest, Sprewell Bluff, Rum Creek, Chickasawhatchee, Mayhaw, River Creek, Sandhills, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, and Silver Lake WMAs.
Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data indicate declining population trends of 1.9% and 3.4% per year from 1966-2015 in Georgia and survey-wide, respectively. While some caution needs to be exercised when interpreting these results due to the low numbers of birds detected along most routes, other surveys and anecdotal evidence also suggest significant population declines in recent decades. The Partners in Flight conservation initiative has designated this bird an extremely high priority species warranting conservation attention further supporting the need for conservation action.
Bachman's sparrows are most often found in older pine stands (60-plus years) with widely spaced trees; however, maintaining lower basal areas within younger stands can provide suitable conditions for grass and forb growth, and consequently for this sparrow. Regular burning is needed in pine woods habitats, and often in fields, to control shrub and sapling growth that would inhibit herbaceous ground cover. A burning cycle of 2-3 years in pine woods habitat will usually give the best results. Managers on private timberlands can provide suitable habitat by thinning and burning middle-aged pine plantations. Clear-cuts that are not too densely restocked can also provide suitable habitat for several years after planting. Research conducted in replanted loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations in the Piedmont suggests that Bachman's sparrows only use larger (>35 ha) stands that are very young (<3 years old) in this forest type. Due to the rapid growth of these pines the canopy quickly closes leaving a very limited temporal window where the habitat is suitable for this species. In comparison, regenerating longleaf pine habitat usually remains suitable for several years and Bachman's sparrows are able to use much smaller stands. This difference seems to be a function of tree structure, as young longleaf pines shoot up in a "rocket phase" were there is very little lateral growth, allowing for a much longer window before canopy closure and a denser ground cover of grasses and forbs. Additionally, young longleaf pines can be burned much sooner after establishment than loblolly or slash pine (Pinus elliottii).
Brennan, L. A., J. L. Cooper, K. E. Lucas, B. D. Leopold, and G. A. Hurst. 1995. Assessing the influence of Red-cockaded Woodpecker colony site management on non-target forest vertebrates in loblolly pine forests of Mississippi: Study design and preliminary results. Pp. 309–319 in D. L. Kulhavy, R. G. Hooper, and R. Costa, eds., Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Recovery, Ecology, and Management. Center for Applied Studies in Forestry, College of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX.
Burleigh, T. D. 1958. Georgia Birds. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. 746pp.
Dunning, J. B., and B. D. Watts. 1990. Regional differences in habitat occupancy by Bachman's sparrow. Auk 107: 463-472.
Dunning, J. B., Jr. P. Pyle, and M. A. Patten. 2018. Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis), version 3.1. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Gobris, N. M. 1992. Habitat occupancy during the breeding season by Bachman's sparrow at Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in Central Georgia. M.S. Thesis, University Georgia, Athens. 45pp.
Gobris, N. M. 2010. Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis). Pp. 374–375 in T. M. Schneider, G. Beaton, T. S. Keyes, and N. A. Klaus, eds. The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia. University of Georgia Press, Athens.
Hunter, W. C. 1990. Handbook for Nongame Bird Management in the Southeast Region. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA. 178pp.
Partners in Flight. 2016. Partners in Flight watch list. Http://partnersinflight.org/resources/pif-watch-list-table-2016/
Plentovich, S., J. Tucker, N. R. Holler, and G. Hill. 1998. Enhancing Bachman's Sparrow habitat via management of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Journal of Wildlife Management 62:347-354.
Sauer, J. R., D. K. Niven, J. E. Hines, D. J. Ziolkowski, Jr, K. L. Pardieck, J. E. Fallon, and W. A. Link. 2017. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966-2015. Version 2.07.2017 USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Schneider, T. M. 1999. Bachman’s Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis). Pp. 32–33 in T. W. Johnson, J. C. Ozier, J. L. Bohannon, J. B. Jensen, and C. Skelton, eds., Protected Animals of Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Wildlife–Natural Heritage Section, Social Circle.
Tucker, J. W. Jr., G. E. Hill, and N. R. Holler. 1998. Managing mid-rotation pine plantations to enhance Bachman’s Sparrow habitat. Wildlife Society Bulletin 26:342–348.
Todd M. Schneider and Timothy S. Keyes
T. Schneider, 1999: original account
T. Schneider and T. Keyes, July 2010: modified and edited text
K. Owers, July 2010: updated status and ranks, added picture
T. Schneider, April 2019: added photos
T. Schneider, 21 Decemebr, 2019: modified and edited text
