New World sparrows | Passerellidae

Amerikaanse gorzen | Chingolos

The sparrows of the New World: seed-eaters with a short conical bill, strong feet and a fairly long, round-ended tail, mostly brown and streaked above. They feed on the ground in leaf litter and under bushes, with a scratch that marks the whole family: both feet kicked back together in a short hop, so that the litter flies away in one movement and bare, seed-bearing ground is laid open. The head pattern is what identification turns on: crown bands, supercilium, eyestripe and malar stripe in fixed arrangements, while the colour of back and flanks says little. The nest is a cup on the ground or low in a bush, often hidden under a grass tussock. However closely they resemble the buntings of Europe, they have been placed in a family of their own since around 2017, apart from the Emberizidae.