Bachman's Sparrow Peucaea aestivalis Scientific name definitions

Bachman's Sparrow is an enigmatic resident of mature pine woods and open forest habitats of the southeastern United States. Early naturalists and writers in the South celebrated the species for its simple but pleasant song, which was among the most familiar sounds associated with the piney woods of the Deep South. The sparrow itself, however, is secretive and shy, so little formal study was done on this species prior to the mid-1980s.

Bachman's Sparrow was originally described in 1834 by John James Audubon who collected a series of this species near Charleston, South Carolina. Audubon named the species after John Bachman, a Charleston clergyman with whom he stayed while collecting southern birds. John Bachman had previously discovered the species when he collected the first specimens at Parker's Ferry, a town about 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of Charleston (1 Terres, J. K. (1980). The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA. Close ).

Historically most common in mature, open pine forests, for many years this species was called the Pine-woods Sparrow. Most such mature forest has now been logged, however, so over much of its range this sparrow often occurs in open habitats such as clearcuts and utility rights-of-way, where the grassy conditions that it prefers still exist. The Bachman's Sparrow has fluctuated greatly in range and population size during the last century, and the species is currently rare in many areas where it was formerly common. It is considered a species of management concern by the government agencies charged with overseeing the vast areas of southern pine land. The Bachman's Sparrow occupies restored pine lands managed for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Dryobates borealis) and therefore provides land managers with added benefit from their management activities—conservation of two declining species is achieved for the price of one (2 Wood, D. R., L. W. Burger, J. L. Bowman, and C. L. Hardy (2004). Avian community response to pine-grassland restoration. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32: 819–829. Close ). In part, this explains the renewed research interest in the species (e.g., 3 Dunning, J. B., R. Borgella, K. Clements and G. K. Meffe. (1995). Patch isolation, corridor effects, and colonization by a resident sparrow in a managed pine woodland. Conservation Biology 9:542-550. Close , 4 Dunning, J. B., B. J. Danielson, B. D. Watts, J. Liu and D. G. Krementz. (2000). Studying wildlife at local and landscape scales: Bachman's Sparrows at the Savannah River Site. Studies in Avian Biology 21:75-80. Close , 5 Conner, R. N., C. E. Shackelford, R. R. Schaefer, D. Saenz and D. C. Rudolph. (2002). Avian community response to southern pine ecosystem restoration for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Wilson Bulletin 114 (3):324-332. Close , 6 Allen, J. C., S. M. Krieger, J. R. Walters and J. A. Collazo. (2006a). Associations of breeding birds with fire-influenced and riparian-upland gradients in a longleaf pine ecosystem. Auk 123 (4):1110-1128. Close , 7 Cox, J. A. and C. D. Jones. (2009). Influence of prescribed fire on winter abundance of Bachman's Sparrow. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121 (2):359-365. Close , 8 Jones, C. D., J. A. Cox, E. Toriani-Moura and R. J. Cooper. (2013). Nest-site characteristics of Bachman's Sparrows and their relationship to plant succession following prescribed burns. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125 (2):293-300. Close , 9 Taillie, P. J., M. N. Peterson and C. E. Moorman. (2015). The relative importance of multiscale factors in the distribution of Bachman's Sparrow and the implications for ecosystem conservation. Condor 117 (2):137-146. Close ).

Fundamental aspects of natural history have been provided by a few intensive studies of breeding in the Bachman’s Sparrow (e.g., 10 Haggerty, T. M. (1986). Reproductive ecology of Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) in central Arkansas. Phd Thesis, Univ. Arkansas, Fayetteville. Close , 11 Dunning, J. B. and B. D. Watts. (1990). Regional differences in habitat occupancy by Bachman's Sparrow. Auk 107:463-472. Close , 12 Dunning, J. B. and B. D. Watts. (1991). Habitat occupancy by Bachman's Sparrow in the Francis Marion National Forest before and after Hurricane Hugo. Auk 108:723-725. Close , 4 Dunning, J. B., B. J. Danielson, B. D. Watts, J. Liu and D. G. Krementz. (2000). Studying wildlife at local and landscape scales: Bachman's Sparrows at the Savannah River Site. Studies in Avian Biology 21:75-80. Close ). More recently, Winiarski et al. (13 Winiarski, J. M., C. E. Moorman, J. P. Carpenter, and G. R. Hess (2017). Reproductive consequences of habitat fragmentation for a declining resident bird of the longleaf pine ecosystem. Ecosphere 8. Close ) examined home range and habitat characteristics. Borror provided early and comprehensive analysis of Bachman's Sparrow song (14 Borror, D. J. (1961a). Intraspecific variation in passerine bird songs. Wilson Bulletin 73:57-78. Close , 15 Borror, D. J. (1971). Songs of Aimophila sparrows occurring in the United States. Wilson Bulletin 83:132-151. Close ), while Ali and Anderson (16 Ali, S., and R. Anderson (2018). Song and aggressive signaling in Bachmans Sparrow. Auk 135:521–533. Close ) examined the role of song repertoire in the territoriality of breeding males. A comparative study of the members of the genus Aimophila (17 Wolf, L. L. (1977). Species relationships in the avian genus Aimophila. Ornithological Monographs 23. Close ), which then included the Bachman's Sparrow, improved our understanding of these species. Much of the recent work has been done at the Wade Tract, a protected reserve of old-growth Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) forest in southwestern Georgia, by James Cox, Clark Jones, and colleagues. These studies include some of the first studies of overwintering ecology (18 Cox, J. A. and S. R. Jones. (2004). Use of recorded vocalizations in winter surveys of Bachman's Sparrows. Journal of Field Ornithology 75:359-363. Close , 7 Cox, J. A. and C. D. Jones. (2009). Influence of prescribed fire on winter abundance of Bachman's Sparrow. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121 (2):359-365. Close ), when Bachman's Sparrow is particularly elusive. Overwintering ecology has subsequently been explored in several areas of the species’ range (19 Brooks, M. E. and P. C. Stouffer. (2011). Interspecific variation in habitat preferences of grassland birds wintering in southern pine savannas. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123 (1):65-75. Close , 20 Korosy, M. G., J. S. Reece and R. F. Noss. (2013). Winter habitat associations of four grassland sparrows in Florida dry prairie. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125 (3):502-512. Close , 21 Champlin, P. J., J. C. Kilgo, J. D. Lanham and F. J. Spilker. (2015). Area sensitivity of grassland sparrows overwintering in a South Carolina forested landscape. Southeastern Naturalist 14 (3):438-446. Close ).