Length: 5-5.75 inches
Weight: 12-18g
Winter: small seeds, buds, and insects
Summer: small spiders and insects, fruits, seeds
Most breeding males have a single female on their territory, but up to 15% of the males have two or more females; two to four eggs per nest with all incubation by female; incubation 12-14 days and young fledge in 9-11 days; more than one nest possible per female per season; commonly parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbird
Low survival rates on average, but both males and females known to breed for up to nine years.
For now, this species seems to be doing rather well since it is a bird that utilizes disturbed sites and decent amounts of this exist on the breeding grounds. Yet to be documented is how successfully this bird will produce young in fragmented habitats that have high amounts of cowbirds and edge predators. On the wintering grounds, these birds are commonly killed for food and sport, and they are a popular cage bird in some Mexican towns.