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Bird

American Tree Sparrow

Spizella arborea

A winter visitor to North Carolina, found in 88 of 100 counties and 12 habitats.

Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
88 of 100 counties
Habitats
12

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
88 of 100 counties
Habitats
12
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in North Carolina 12

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 12

Floodplain and bottomland forests

fallen (uprooted) tree
WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain ForestNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

Freshwater marshes

Georgia pond and emergent wetland
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland SystemsRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain"
WinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/HayLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr)Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain", Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian SystemsFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

Winter

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Winter

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

WinterSoutheastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland; Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

WinterDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Successional Shrub/Scrub (Other); Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh

Mountain balds

Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.

WinterSouthern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems
Other habitats in its models (30)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.

In North Carolina 1

  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Winter.
Elsewhere in the South (6)
  • Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Winter.
Northeast (2)
  • Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Winter.
  • Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Winter.
Midwest (4)
  • North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Dry Bur Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
Land cover and other classes (17)
  • Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Winter.
  • Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Developed, Low Intensity Winter.
  • Developed, Medium Intensity Winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Winter.
  • Orchards Vineyards and Other High Structure Agriculture Winter.
  • Recently Burned Winter.
  • Recently Burned Forest Winter.
  • Recently Burned Shrubland Winter.
  • Recently Logged Areas Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

  • Winter: does not nest here, in 88 of 100 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 180

Plant genera in its diet records (9)
  • Carex Seeds. 24 diet records. 148 native plants in North Carolina
  • Eriophorum Seeds. 4 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Empetrum Seeds. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Vaccinium Seeds and flowers. 3 diet records. 16 native plants in North Carolina
  • Draba Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Amaranthus Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Brassica Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Picea Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Scirpus Seeds. 1 diet record. 10 native plants in North Carolina

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 70

Plants 367

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in North Carolina

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 89

Plants 1314

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in North Carolina

Forest edges and thickets

Birds 40

Plants 231

All of forest edges and thickets in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources