Medium-sized sparrow with a round head, short bill, and long tail. Key field marks include the central breast spot, white eyering, and black-and-white mustache stripes.
Gray head contrasts with the streaky brown back. Key field marks include the central breast spot, white eyering, and black-and-white mustache stripes.
Often sings from high perches in scrubby sagebrush and chaparral areas.
Bell’s Sparrows are small songbirds—medium-sized for sparrows—with relatively long tails. The head is rounded and the bill is fairly short and thick.
About the size of a Chipping Sparrow; slightly smaller than a Golden-crowned Sparrow.
sparrow-sized or smallerBell’s Sparrow consists of four subspecies with somewhat distinct plumages. Two are noticeably dark gray on the head with nearly entirely dark tails and unstreaked backs: these are A. b. belli, which occurs mainly in coastal California sage; and A. b. clementeae, a federally threatened subspecies that occurs only on San Clemente Island. There are also two lighter forms: A. b. canescens, of the Mojave desert region, which closely resembles Sagebrush Sparrow; and A. b. cinerea, of Baja California, which has buffier face markings than the other three subspecies.
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