Henslow’s Sparrow

NT - Near Threatened

N3B, N4N - Vulnerable Breeding, Apparently Secure Nonbreeding

S1B - Critically Imperiled Breeding

Endangered

Species in Greatest Conservation Need

Henslow’s Sparrow is a shy bird more often heard than seen, most often seen after being heard. It has a large, flattened head and a short, deeply notched tail. The face, the nape of the neck, and the central crown stripe are all olive green. A dark line from the base of the bill to the breast is a “whisker” stripe. The breast, sides, and flanks are finely streaked.

5″ to 5½″ in length

6½″ wingspan

A two note, weak, “see-lick”, sounding much like a cricket.

Breeding: Grassy areas more than 250 acres in size with a significant litter layer of matted dead vegetation and scattered shrubs or other standing herbs

Crickets, short-horned grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, butterfly larvae, bees, and seeds.

Rarely seen migrant, uncommon, local, and irregular breeder

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

New World sparrows were traditionally combined with buntings into the family Emberizidae. Recent phylogenetic analysis (Barker et al. 2013) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis (Klicka et al. 2014) found that the Old World buntings should be separated as a sister to New World sparrows. New World sparrows have been separated into a new family, Passerellidae.

This species was formerly classified as Ammodramus henslowii. Molecular studies in 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016 indicated that Henslow’s sparrow is closely related to Baird’s Sparrow, and neither belonged in the genus Ammodramus. The two species were recently placed in their own genus Centronyx.