Cape Sable/Seaside Sparrow
Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow
Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows are small birds
that are about 13 centimeters or 5 inches long. When they are babies they are
dark gray with greenish-brown on the tail and wings. Adults are light gray to
almost white with dark olive-gray streaks on the breast and sides. They have
brown eyes, and a gray ear patch behind the eye, which have a dark line around
it. There is a small patch of yellow on the edge of the wing. You can’t tell a
boy sparrow from a girl sparrow by just looking at the feathers.
The sparrow mainly eats insects. They can find a lot in their habitats. Sometimes, the water level gets very high though. This makes it extremely hard for the sparrows to find their food and a lot are starving this way.
The sparrow's main habitat is wet, grassy prairie.
These wet prairies are found along the eastern and western areas of the river
known as Shark Slough, in the middle of the southern Everglades.
The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow is very close to
extinction. It was first put on the endangered species list in 1967. The
Sparrow’s population continues to go down. Recently, the population has had a
big drop in numbers and has a greater risk of extinction. The most recent data
shows that Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows have gone down by as much as 40%
range-wide since 1981. Sparrow experts are predicting extinction in a few
decades if the population keeps dropping.