Botteri's Sparrow

Peucaea botterii

OrderPasseriformes

FamilyPasserellidae

HabitatCoastal prairie and bunchgrass with scattered shrubs

SeasonSummer breeder in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (April-September)

LocationPalo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, Brownsville,, Cameron County, Texas

Size5.5-6.5 inches

DietInsects in summer, plus grass and weed seeds

ConservationLeast Concern (IUCN)

CameraNikon D500Lens600mmAperturef/11Shutter1/800ISO2500

Botteri's Sparrow singing from the top of a thorn bush at Palo Alto Battlefield.

About the Botteri's Sparrow

Botteri's Sparrow is one of the plainest birds in Texas and one of the hardest to see well. It is a big, flat-headed, buffy-brown sparrow with almost no field marks, and for most of the day it creeps unseen through the bunchgrass.

The song gives it away. On summer mornings males climb to the top of a yucca or thorn bush and deliver a dry chipping series that speeds up like a bouncing ball. That is the moment to get a photo, and it is the moment these frames were made.

In the United States this sparrow is found only in a thin band of coastal prairie in deep South Texas and in southeast Arizona. These photographs come from Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park near Brownsville, one of the most reliable places in Texas to find it.

Want to see a Botteri's Sparrow in the wild?
Join one of my guided birding tours! Fine art prints of my photos are also available.

VIEW TOURS