The rufous-winged sparrow (Peucaea carpalis ) is a medium-small, long-tailed New World sparrow with a gray face and rusty crown and supercilium; the rufous lesser coverts of the wing for which it is named are often concealed.
The back is brown with darker streaks, while the belly is pale gray. The wings and crown are rust-colored. This sparrow has a conical, yellow-based bill and a long brown tail.
Peucaea carpalis is a year-round resident from south-central Arizona and Guadalupe Canyon, New Mexico, south to northern Sinaloa, Mexico.
The rufous-winged sparrow inhabits desert grasslands with scattered mesquite or cholla. It also occurs in washes with sandy bottoms and vegetated slopes, brushy irrigation ditches, and creeks bordered by broad-leaved trees, mesquite, grasses, and forbs.
During the breeding season, adult rufous-winged sparrows feed on a variety of insects, caught on the wing or gleaned off plant surfaces. At other times, the bird eats seeds.
Rufous-winged sparrows usually breed during the monsoon months of July and August. The nest is built low in small trees, bushes, or cactus, including hackberry, palo verde, cholla, and mesquite. The average clutch size is four; pairs may have two broods per year.
