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Vagrant to Bermuda, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Numerous geographical subspecies named: from coastal western Alaska (algistus), central Canada (scalariventris), Venezuela (scotinus), eastern Colombia (elutus), central Colombia (colombianus) and eastern Brazil (deserti) considered not acceptable; also, name occidentalis used for birds from Rocky Mts of west-central Canada to west-central USA, but now synonymized with subarcticus; older name wapacuthu formerly applied to populations of western and central Canada and northern USA (limits uncertain), but validity questioned; in addition, northern populations lagophonus and heterocnemis possibly not separable from saturatus, perhaps better merged with latter. Boundaries of subspecies often obscure, and problem further complicated by birds of intermediate appearance. Subspecies pacificus and pallescens intergrade in California.

The following 20 subspecies are recognised:

• lagophonus (Oberholser, 1904)   -  Alaska, southern in mountains to north-eastern Oregon and north-western Montana; in winter south to Texas.
• saturatus Ridgway, 1877   -  Coast from south-eastern Alaska to northern California.
• pacificus Cassin, 1854   -  Coast of California (except north) south to north-western Baja California.
• elachistus Brewster, 1902   -  Southern Baja California.
• subarcticus Hoy, PR, 1853   -  Mackenzie and north-western British Columbia east to Hudson Bay, southern at least to Wyoming and North Dakota; possibly this race, or intermediates between it and pallescens and/or lagophonus, or unnamed race, south to Arizona, New Mexico and south-western Texas (Guadalupe Mts).
• pallescens Stone, 1897   -  Central California (San Joaquin Valley) and deserts of south-eastern California east to western Kansas, south to Mexico (south to Guerrero, western Veracruz).
• heterocnemis (Oberholser, 1904)   -  North-eastern Canada south to Great Lakes region.
• virginianus (Gmelin, 1788)   -  Minnesota east to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward I, south through eastern Kansas and eastern Texas to Florida.
• mayensis Nelson, 1901   -  Yucatán Peninsula.
• mesembrinus (Oberholser, 1904)   -  From Isthmus of Tehuantepec to western Panama.
• nigrescens von Berlepsch, 1884   -  Andes from Colombia to north-western Peru.
• nacurutu (Vieillot, 1817)   -  Lowlands from eastern Colombia to the Guianas. Also Bolivia across to north-eastern Brazil, south to east-central Argentina (Buenos Aires).
• algistus (Oberholser, 1904)   -  Western Alaska.
• pinorum Dickerman & Johnson, AB, 2008   -  Southern Idaho to northern Arizona and northern New Mexico (USA).
• deserti Reiser, 1905   -  North-eastern Brazil (north-central Bahia).
• wapacuthu Gmelin, JF, 1788   -  Western and central Canada and northern USA.
• occidentalis Stone, 1896   -  Rocky Mts of western-central Canada to western-central USA.
• neochorus Oberholser, 1914   -  Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
• magellanicus (Lesson, 1828)   -  Central Peru to Tierra del Fuego.
• scalariventris Snyder, 1961   -  Central Canada.

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