From Opus

Peucaea botterii

Photo by Michael W
Madera Canyon, Arizona, June 2005

Aimophila botterii

[edit] Identification

13-16cm

• Buff grey breast and sides
• Streaked blackish grey or brownish grey upperparts
• Tust-brown wings
• Long, rounded, grey-brown tail
• Dark iris
• Grey bill
• Pale red legs and feet
  

Sexes alike

[edit] Similar Species

Very similar to Cassin's Sparrow, but the song is different.

[edit] Distribution

North and Central America:
North America: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
Central America: Mexico, Baja California, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

This is a polytypic species consisting of nine subspecies:

• P. b. arizonae: South-eastern Arizona to northern Mexico (southern Sonora and northern Durango)
• P. b. texana: Extreme southern Texas and north-eastern Mexico (eastern Tamaulipas)
• P. b. mexicana: Central highlands of Mexico
• P. b. goldmani: Coastal western Mexico (Sinaloa to Nayarit)
• P. b. botterii: Southern highlands of Mexico (southern Puebla to Oaxaca and western Chiapas)
• P. b. petenica: Coastal south-eastern Mexico (Veracruz) to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
• P. b. vantynei: Highlands of central Guatemala
• P. b. spadiconigrescens: Lowland pine savanna of northern Honduras and north-eastern Nicaragua
• P. b. vulcanica: Highlands of Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica

Was formerly placed in genus Aimophila.

[edit] Habitat

Dry dense grasslands with tall grasses, savanna and scrub.

[edit] Behaviour

They nest on the ground.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. 51st supplement to the AOU checklist of North American birds
3. Avibase

• List of references

[edit] External Links