[4] Adults have rufous brown upperparts and crown with gray and black streaking on the nape, back and primaries.

[8][11] Bachman's sparrows are thought to have been extirpated from Virginia in the early 2000s, and North Carolina is now the northern periphery of their eastern range.

[6][7][9][10] Bachman's sparrows in the southern portion of their range are resident, while those in Missouri, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, parts of North Carolina, and extreme northern Mississippi and Alabama have been thought to migrate south during winter.

Because of their secretive nature, determining the presence of Bachman's sparrows is difficult outside of the breeding season, when individuals rarely sing and perch visibly.

[6][11] However, examination of eBird data from recent decades suggests that several populations of Bachman's sparrows remain in North Carolina for the winter.

[14] In a study of Bachman's sparrow reproduction in shortleaf and loblolly pine plantations of Arkansas, egg laying started as early as 17 April and continued until 26 August.

Over a two-year period in shortleaf and loblolly pine plantations of central Arkansas, 6 of 34 adults returned to areas where they had a territory in a previous year.

Daily nest survival rate of Bachman's sparrow ranged from 0.89 to 0.96 across sites and years in the dry prairie of central Florida.

There have also been some reports of Bachman's sparrows which feign injury or imitate the movement of a snake, even emitting a hissing noise, at the approach of danger.

[11] Survival of Bachman's sparrows during the breeding season has been investigated in a South Carolina study area dominated by longleaf pine.

Vegetation density was greater below 3 feet (0.9 m) than above 3 feet (0.9 m) and percent ground cover and percent grass cover were consistently higher (>58%) on sites occupied by Bachman's sparrow than unoccupied sites in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

[27] In 17- to 28-year- old slash pine plantations of northwestern Florida that had been burned within 4 years, Bachman's sparrow abundance was significantly (p=0.043) correlated (r=0.46) with relative volume of grass.

[26] In longleaf and loblolly pine stands of varying ages and under different management in South Carolina, areas occupied by Bachman's sparrows consistently had high vegetation volumes ≤3 feet (1 m) above ground.

[28] In 1- to 6-year-old loblolly pine stands of eastern Texas, herbaceous ground cover (p=0.003) was greater in study areas occupied by Bachman's sparrows.

[36] Factors such as the patchiness of vegetation and species composition of the ground layer may affect habitat suitability by influencing foraging success and the availability of food and nesting material.

[37] Although measurements were not taken, observations of Bachman's sparrow in clearcuts in eastern Texas suggest they may favor tall grass in clumpy rather that uniform distribution.

[24] In a predominantly longleaf pine forest in Georgia, Bachman's sparrows were significantly (p=0.04) more abundant in areas where ground cover was primarily Beyrich threeawn (Aristida beyrichiana), compared to relatively disturbed communities of bluestems (Andropogon spp.)

[27] Although statistical significance was not tested due to small sample size, Bachman's sparrows occurred at higher densities in control plots (1.5 territories/40 ha) than plots that had downed coarse woody debris >4 inches (10 cm) in diameter removed (0.4 territories/40 ha) in a loblolly pine forest of South Carolina.

[39] In longleaf and loblolly pine stands of varying ages and under different management in South Carolina, plots occupied by Bachman's sparrows consistently had low volumes of vegetation from 7 to 13 feet (2–4 m) above ground compared to unoccupied sites.

[37] In loblolly and shortleaf pine plantations of Arkansas, Bachman's sparrow breeding areas had significantly lower percent canopy cover (p<0.001), shorter woody vegetation (p≤0.01) and fewer trees (p<0.001) and shrubs (p≤0.05) than unoccupied sites.

The site with relatively low densities of Bachman's sparrows had been rolled with a drum chopper, which resulted in a lower volume of vegetation from 3 to 7 feet (1–2 m) above ground.

The authors suggest that the lack of vegetation in this height range may have limited perches, resulting in fewer birds on the site.

[27] In the dry prairie of central Florida, Bachman's sparrows used clumps of saw-palmetto that had "natural" burrows significantly (p<0.001) more than would be expected based on availability.

The ability of the Bachman's sparrow to detect and colonize areas before they are no longer suitable may depend on the size and isolation of the habitat.

[43] Several studies suggest that optimal sites are those that have been burned within the previous 3 years,[23][25][26] which highlights the importance of frequent fire regimes for the successful conservation of Bachman's sparrow.

[18] In loblolly and shortleaf pine plantations of central Arkansas, mean home range size (n=25) during the breeding season was 6 acres (2.5 ha).

In winter (November–January), the average home range size of 8 Bachman's sparrows was 1.6 acres (0.65 ha) in the dry prairie of central Florida.

On clearcuts of various ages with relatively abundant loblolly pine in eastern Texas, maximum Bachman sparrow density was 1.9/10 ha.

However short-tailed hawks (Buteo brachyurus) [48][citation needed] and possibly American kestrels (Falco sparverius) [40] prey on adult Bachman's sparrows.

[15][21] In shortleaf and loblolly pine plantations of central Arkansas, 5% of 38 nest failures were due to brown-headed cowbird parasitism.