Singing hammer

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Singing hammer
Melospiza-melodia-001.jpg

Song bammer ( Melospiza melodia )

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Passeroidea
Family : New World Chambers (Passerellidae)
Genre : Melospiza
Type : Singing hammer
Scientific name
Melospiza melodia
( Wilson , 1810)
Distribution of the song bunting:
yellow: breeding area
green: occurrence as a resident bird
blue: wintering area
A song bunting in the Refuge d'oiseaux de Nicolet in Québec

The song bunting ( Melospiza melodia ) is a North American songbird species that is divided into 31 subspecies.

features

The bird is brown on the top with dark stripes on the back and white on the underside with dark mottling and a dark spot on the chest. It has a brown hood and a long brown tail. The different subspecies differ in color from each other. The melodious and complex singing serves to defend the territory and to attract the female.

Occurrence

The bird lives in bushes and thickets near water, in swamps and salt marshes in large parts of Canada , the USA and northern Mexico . The birds from the northern range migrate to Mexico in the cold season. Few sightings have been reported from Norway and the UK . The Santa Barbara song bammer was endemic to the island of Santa Barbara Island off California and is now considered extinct.

behavior

This bird looks for insects and seeds on the ground, in the scrub or in shallow water. In salt marshes, crustaceans complement the diet.

Reproduction

The female builds a shell nest out of grass and stems on the ground in the thicket and incubates three to five eggs for about two weeks. The male helps raise the young, which fledge after two weeks, and takes care of the young a little longer while the female breeds again. Even three broods in a year are not uncommon.

literature

Web links

Commons : Singammer  - album with pictures, videos and audio files