LeConte's Sparrow - Ross Feldner

Leconte’s Sparrow is one of the smallest New World sparrows in North America.

Notoriously secretive, it spends almost all of its time under the cover of tall grasses and because it is so rarely seen, there are still many gaps in knowledge about this tiny sparrow. Nests are often very hard to find, and individuals are more often identified by sound than by sight.

During summer they feed on mostly insects such as weevils, leafhoppers, leaf beetles, stinkbugs, caterpillars, moths and spiders.

LeConte's Sparrow prefers moist open grassy areas with sufficient vegetation cover to provide shelter such as meadows, fields, crop stubble, shallow marshy edges, and, prairie.

LeConte's Sparrow received a valid binomial name from John James Audubon in 1844. He wrote, "I have named this interesting species after my young friend Doctor Le Conte, son of Major Le Conte, so well known among naturalists, and who is, like his father, much attached to the study of natural history."