Savannah sparrow | |
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Singing male, probably P. s. labradorius Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec (Canada) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Passerellidae |
Genus: | Passerculus |
Species: | P. sandwichensis |
Binomial name | |
Passerculus sandwichensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | |
Subspecies | |
Some 10–20, see article text | |
Breeding Migration Nonbreeding Year-round | |
Synonyms | |
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The Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) is a small New World sparrow that is the only member of the genus Passerculus. It is a widespread and abundant species that occupies open grassland habitats in North America.
Over most of its range it is migratory, breeding in Canada and the northern United States while wintering in Mexico and the southern United States. It is a sexually monomorphic species that is quite variable in appearance. Around 17 subspecies are currently recognised. These are divided into several groups, some of which have sometimes been considered as separate species.
The species name sandwichensis is Latin from Sandwich Sound (now Prince William Sound) in southern Alaska from where the first specimen was collected. The common name refers to Savannah, Georgia, where Alexander Wilson observed the species in 1811.
The Savannah sparrow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it with the buntings in the genus Emberiza and coined the binomial name Emberiza sandwichensis. [2] Gmelin based his text on the Sandwich bunting that had been described by John Latham in 1783 and the "Unalasha bunting" that had been described by Thomas Pennant in 1785. [3] [4] Latham and Pennant had access to a specimen owned by the naturalist Joseph Banks that had been collected in May 1778 from Sandwich Sound (now Prince William Sound) in southern Alaska during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean. [5] The specimen has not survived, [6] but a coloured drawing of the bird made during the voyage by the artist and naturalist William Ellis is now held by the Natural History Museum in London. [7] [8]
The Savannah sparrow is now the only species placed in the genus Passerculus that was introduced in 1838 by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte. [9] [10] The English name "Savannah sparrow" was introduced in 1811 by the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson in the third volume of his American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Wilson had first seen the species on the coast near Savannah, Georgia. [11] [12]
A 2005 study that compared mitochondrial DNA sequence found that the Ipswich sparrow, formerly usually considered a valid species (as Passerculus princeps), was a well-marked subspecies, whereas the southwestern large-billed sparrow was more distinct (Passerculus rostratus). [13]
Seventeen subspecies (including the large-billed sparrows) are currently recognized, though many are only described from wintering birds and much of the variation seems to be clinal. Four additional subspecies are no longer generally accepted. The complex is usually divided into several groups: [10] [14]
All are migratory; wintering ranges overlap widely.
Some post-breeding dispersal. Formerly considered as a distinct species. [13]
The large-billed sparrows proper is sometimes treated as a separate species. [15] There are two dark, large and strong-billed subspecies:
Belding's (Savannah/large-billed) sparrows are all-year residents of salt marshes of the Californian Pacific coast. They are dark, rufous, and have rather long but not very hefty bills. This group has been considered as a separate species. [15]
San Benito (Savannah/large-billed) sparrow is a resident bird of the Islas San Benito off Baja California; a stray bird was observed on Cedros Island on April 21, 1906. [16] It has been considered as a separate species. [10]
The Savannah sparrow has a typically sparrow-like dark-streaked brown back, and whitish underparts with brown or blackish breast and flank streaking. It has whitish crown and supercilium stripes, sometimes with some yellow (more often near the beak). The cheeks are brown and the throat white. The flight feathers are blackish-brown with light brown or white border. The eyes are dark. The feet and legs are horn-colored, as is the lower part of the bill, with the upper part being dark grey. [17]
It is a very variable species, with numerous subspecies, several of which have been split as separate species at various times. The different forms vary principally in the darkness of the plumage. The variation generally follows Gloger's rule, with Alaskan and interior races the palest, and southwestern coastal forms the darkest. There are some exceptions, though, most conspicuously in some island populations that presumably were strongly affected by founder effects. The general pattern of variation has a fairly clear divide, southwest of which the birds become notably darker; this agrees quite well with the limit between P. sandwichensis and P. (s.) rostratus. [13] [17] Savannah sparrows show some variation in size across subspecies. The total length can range from 11 to 17 cm (4.3 to 6.7 in), wingspan ranges from 18 to 25 cm (7.1 to 9.8 in) and body mass from 15 to 29 g (0.53 to 1.02 oz). [18] [19] In the nominate subspecies, the body weight averages 20.1 g (0.71 oz). [20]
The Savannah sparrows proper (see below) are very similar, and migrant birds can not usually be related to a breeding population with certainty. The resident or partially migratory subspecies are well distinguishable by size and, particularly between groups, coloration. [17]
This passerine bird breeds in Alaska, Canada, northern, central and Pacific coastal United States, Mexico and Guatemala. The Pacific and Mexican breeders are resident, but other populations are migratory, wintering from the southern United States across Central America and the Caribbean to northern South America. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. [17]
These birds forage on the ground or in low bushes; particularly in winter they are also found in grazed low-growth grassland. They mainly eat seeds, but also eat insects in the breeding season. They are typically encountered as pairs or family groups in the breeding season, and assemble in flocks for the winter migration. The flight call is a thin seep. [17] Sensu lato , the Savannah sparrow is considered a threatened species by the IUCN. [1] [17] [21] The song is mixture of chirps and trills.
The short-billed dowitcher, like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae.
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
The white-crowned sparrow is a species of passerine bird native to North America. A medium-sized member of the New World sparrow family, this species is marked by a grey face and black and white streaking on the upper head. It breeds in brushy areas in the taiga and tundra of the northernmost parts of the continent and in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast. While southerly populations in the Rocky Mountains and coast are largely resident, the breeding populations of the northerly part of its range are migratory and can be found as wintering or passage visitors through most of North America south to central Mexico.
The song sparrow is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species.
The fox sparrow is a large New World sparrow. It is the only member of the genus Passerella, although some authors split the species into four.
The red-breasted sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the forests of the west coast of North America.
The gull-billed tern, formerly Sterna nilotica, is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull-billed tern was previously considered a subspecies.
The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen. There are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches.
The warbling vireo is a small North American songbird.
The grasshopper sparrow is a small New World sparrow. It belongs to the genus Ammodramus, which contains three species that inhabit grasslands and prairies. Grasshopper sparrows are sometimes found in crop fields and they will readily colonize reclaimed grassland. In the core of their range, grasshopper sparrows are dependent upon large areas of grassland where they avoid trees and shrubs. They seek out heterogenous patches of prairie that contain clumps of dead grass or other vegetation where they conceal their nest, and also contain barer ground where they forage for insects, spiders, and seeds. Grasshopper sparrows are unusual among New World sparrows in that they sing two distinct song types, the prevalence of which varies with the nesting cycle. The primary male song, a high trill preceded by a stereotyped series of short chips, is reminiscent of the sounds of grasshoppers and is the origin of this species' name. Like some other birds of the central North American grasslands, this species also moves around a lot, not only via annual migrations, but individuals frequently disperse between breeding attempts or breeding seasons. Grasshopper sparrows are in steep decline across their range, even in the core of the breeding distribution in the tallgrass prairies of the central Great Plains. The Florida grasshopper sparrow is highly endangered.
Henslow's sparrow is a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It was named by John James Audubon in honor of John Stevens Henslow. It was originally classified in the genus Emberiza and called Henslow's bunting.
The dickcissel is a small seed-eating migratory bird in the family Cardinalidae. It breeds on the prairie grasslands of the Midwestern United States and winters in Central America, northern Colombia, and northern Venezuela. It is the only member of the genus Spiza, though some sources list another supposedly extinct species.
The golden-crowned sparrow is a large New World sparrow found in the western part of North America.
The rufous-crowned sparrow is a small American sparrow. This passerine is primarily found across the Southwestern United States and much of the interior of Mexico, south to the transverse mountain range, and to the Pacific coast to the southwest of the transverse range. Its distribution is patchy, with populations often being isolated from each other. Twelve subspecies are generally recognized, though up to eighteen have been suggested. This bird has a brown back with darker streaks and gray underparts. The crown is rufous, and the face and supercilium are gray with a brown or rufous streak extending from each eye and a thick black malar streak.
The sooty fox sparrow contains the darkest-colored taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within the fox sparrow pending wider-spread acceptance of species status. It has long been suspected to be a separate evolutionary lineage due to morphological distinctness, and this is confirmed by analysis of mtDNA sequence and haplotype data. This group appears to be most closely related to the thick-billed and/or slate-colored fox sparrows.
New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns.
Charles Johnson Maynard was an American naturalist and ornithologist born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was a collector, a taxidermist, and an expert on the vocal organs of birds. In addition to birds, he also studied mollusks, moss, gravestones and insects. He lived in the house at 459 Crafts Street in Newton, Massachusetts, built in 1897 and included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as the Charles Maynard House. The Charles Johnson Maynard Award is given out by the Newton Conservators, Inc.
Calcariidae is a small family of passerine birds. It includes longspurs and snow buntings. There are six species in three genera worldwide, found mainly in North America and Eurasia. They are migratory and can live in a variety of habitats including grasslands, prairies, tundra, mountains, and beaches.
The Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio, also Hawaiian ʻelepaio, is a monarch flycatcher found on the Big Island of Hawaii. Until 2010, all three ʻelepaio species, the Kauaʻi ʻelepaio, the Oʻahu ʻelepaio and this species were considered conspecific.