Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland dry grassland and shrubland, high altitude shrubland, dry savanna, urban areas, rural gardens. From sea-level - 3,500 m.
Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) [XC538849]
by Blair Jollands from Lago Argentino Department, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (call, song)
Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) [XC678071]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (song)
Nest
An open cup composed of plant material lined with fine grasses located on the ground, low in a tree or bush, or in a niche in a wall, about 0.5 - 2 m above ground.
Eggs (Guide)
Clutch Size: 2 - 3
Color: pale greenish-blue with reddish-brown blotches
Dimensions: 19 - 21 x 15 - 16 mm
Incubation: 12 - 14 days by female
Subspecies
Genus probably close to Junco. Has been suggested that present species more closely related to Melospiza than to current congeners. Geographical variation both in size and in coloration, although size variation not so pronounced as in some other New World sparrows. Excluding very pale insularis (southern Caribbean), birds from farthest southern parts of range (australis) are palest and those from highlands of Brazil (macconnelli) darkest; morphologically the most divergent is the large and very long-winged australis.
Numerous subspecies have been proposed, but many are poorly differentiated; orestera may be better treated as a synonym of costaricensis, and mellea perhaps better subsumed in hypoleuca. At present, perezchinchillorum (described from Cerro Marahuaca, in southern Venezuela) and bonnetiana (Sierra Chiribiquete, in southern Colombia) subsumed into roraimae, and markli (lowland north-western Peru) into huancabambae. Comprehensive revision of subspecific taxonomy required.
The following 30 subspecies are recognised:
septentrionalis Griscom, 1930 - Highlands of southern Mexico (Chiapas) south to Honduras and El Salvador.
costaricensis Allen, JA, 1891 - Mountains of El Salvador, Costa Rica and western Panama (east to Veraguas); Santa Marta Mts (northern Colombia) and Andes from Venezuela (southern from central Lara) south to Ecuador.
antillarum (Riley, 1916) - Cordillera Central, in Dominican Republic.
orestera Wetmore, 1951 - Cerro Campana (extreme south-western Panamá Province), in central Panama.
insularis (Ridgway, 1898) - Curaí§ao I and Aruba I, in Netherlands Antilles.
venezuelae Chapman, 1939 - Northern and central Venezuela (coastal mountains from Yaracuy east to Miranda, and Anzoátegui east to Sucre; Quiribana de Caicara, in north-western Bolívar).
inaccessibilis Phelps & Phelps Jr, 1955 - Headwaters of R Yatúa, on Cerro de la Neblina (southern Amazonas), in southern Venezuela.
roraimae (Chapman, 1929) - Sierra de la Macarena (Meta), in central Colombia; eastern and southern Venezuela (north-western Amazonas and tepuis and Gran Sabana of south-eastern Bolívar) and adjacent western Guyana and northern Brazil.
macconnelli Sharpe, 1900 - Summit of Mt Roraima, in south-eastern Bolívar (south-eastern Venezuela).
capensis (Müller, 1776) - Lower R Oyapock, in north-eastern French Guiana; presumably also adjacent north-eastern Brazil (Amapá).
huancabambae Chapman, 1940 - Arid subtropics of northern and central Peru (Piura, Cajamarca, Amazonas and San Martín south to Junín).
illescasensis Koepcke, 1963 - Cerro Illescas (Piura), in north-western Peru.
peruviensis (Lesson, R, 1834) - Arid coastal Peru from La Libertad south to Tacna, and inland on western slope of Andes.
carabayae Chapman, 1940 - Eastern slope of Andes from central Peru (Junín) south to Bolivia (La Paz and Cochabamba).
pulacayensis (Ménégaux, 1909) - Pulacayo and Pampas de Pazña, in L Poopó region (Oruro department), in western Bolivia.
tocantinsi Chapman, 1940 - Lower Amazonia (along R Tocantins and probably along lower Amazon eastern from Monte Alegre), Brazil.
matutina (Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823) - North-eastern and central Brazil (from Maranhío south to northern and central Mato Grosso and Bahia) and adjacent eastern Bolivia (Santa Cruz).
subtorquata Swainson, 1837 - South-central and south-eastern Brazil (from southern Mato Grosso and Espírito Santo) south to eastern Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina (Misiones) and Uruguay.
mellea (Wetmore, 1922) - Central Paraguay (western side of R Paraguay) and northern Argentina (Formosa).
hypoleuca (Todd, 1915) - Eastern and southern Bolivia (eastern Cochambama, Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, Tarija, possibly also central La Paz) and llanos of northern Argentina (Salta and La Rioja south to San Luis, Córdoba and southern Buenos Aires).
antofagastae Chapman, 1940 - Tarapacá and Autofagasta, in northern Chile.
chilensis (Meyen, 1834) - Central Chile (sea-level to puna zone) from Atacama south to Guaitecas Is, and western Argentina on eastern slopes of Andes (Mendoza and Neuquén, and Río Negro).
sanborni Hellmayr, 1932 - High Andes of Coquimbo and Aconcagua (Chile) and San Juan (western Argentina).
choraules (Wetmore & Peters, JL, 1922) - Lowlands and foothills of western Argentina in Mendoza, eastern Neuquén and Río Negro.
australis (Latham, 1790) - Breeds southern Chile (southern from Aysén) and southern Argentina (southern from southern Neuquén and Río Negro); migrates northern probably as far as northern Bolivia.
perezchinchillorum (Phelps Jr & Aveledo, 1984) - Tepuis of southern Venezuela (Amazonas).
bonnetiana Stiles, 1995 - Southern Colombia.
novaesi Oren, 1985 - Eastern Brazil (Pará).
markli Koepcke, 1971 - Lowlands of north-western Peru.
arenalensis (Nores, 1986) - Andes of northern Argentina.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet