Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) [XC540251]
by Thomas Magarian from 2310 North Wygant Street, North Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States (song)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) [XC537296]
by Thomas Magarian from San Francisco Peninsula (near Pacifica), San Mateo County, California, United States (song)
Subspecies
Genus generally considered to be closely related to Passerella and Zonotrichia. Unpublished molecular studies suggest close relationship with Xenospiza and some of the grassland sparrows (Passerculus, some Ammodramus, Pooecetes and Oriturus). One of the most variable of all avian species, as many as 52 subspecies have been named, many of them weakly differentiated.
Proposed subspecies considered insufficiently distinct include: amaka (described from Amak I, in extreme eastern Aleutians), which is synonymized with sanaka, inexspectata (from c. 4·8 km east of L Moose, in British Columbia), synonymized with morphna, juddi (from L Rock, Tower County, in North Dakota), melanchra (Bay Point, Ohio) and euphonia (Cranberry Glades, Pocahontas County, in West Virginia), all included within nominate; in California, saltonis (from margin of Salton Sea 1·6 km south-east of Mecca), subsumed into fallax, fisherella (from L Honey, near Milford), subsumed into montana, mailliardi (from Ranchos Dos Rios, near Modesto, in Stanislaus County) and cooperi (from San Diego), both synonymized with heermanni, and micronyx (from San Miguel I), clementae (from San Clemente I) and coronatorum (from North I, in Los Coronados Is, off north-western Baja California), all synonymized with graminea; also, in Mexico, yuriria (from Yuriria, in south-eastern Guanajuato), treated as synonym of adusta, and niceae (from Tulancingo, in Hidalgo) and azteca (from Lago de Zumpango, in México), both subsumed into mexicana. Thorough taxonomic review required.
The following 25 subspecies are recognised:
maxima Gabrielson & Lincoln, 1951 - Western Aleutian Is (Attu I east to Atka I).
sanaka McGregor, 1900 - Eastern Aleutian Is (Seguam I east to Unimak I and Amak I), Alaska Peninsula east to Stepovak Bay and islands south of peninsula (Sanak I east to Semidi Is).
insignis Baird, SF, 1869 - Kodiak I and Alaska Peninsula at Kukak and Katmai. Non-breeding also southern along Alaskan coast.
kenaiensis Ridgway, 1900 - Alaska on Pacific coast of Kenai Peninsula and islands in Prince William Sound. Non-breeding also south to British Columbia.
caurina Ridgway, 1899 - Coast of northern Gulf of Alaska. Non-breeding also in Pacific Northwest south to north-western California.
rufina (Bonaparte, 1850) - Outer islands of Alexander Archipelago, in south-eastern Alaska, and in Queen Charlotte Is, in British Columbia (Canada).
morphna Oberholser, 1899 - Central and south-western British Columbia southern (west of Cascades) in north-western USA to north-western Oregon.
merrilli Brewster, 1896 - Eastern British Columbia southern in USA to south-eastern Washington and north-western Montana. Non-breeding farther southern (south to south-eastern California).
cleonensis McGregor, 1899 - West of Cascades in south-western Oregon and north-western California.
gouldii Baird, SF, 1858 - Central coast of California (except San Francisco Bay), also Santa Cruz I.
samuelis (S. F. Baird, 1858) - San Pablo Bay and northern San Francisco Bay, in California.
maxillaris Grinnell, 1909 - Suisun Bay, east of San Pablo Bay.
pusillula Ridgway, 1899 - Southern San Francisco Bay.
heermanni Baird, SF, 1858 - Central and south-western California and extreme north-western Mexico (north-western Baja California). Non-breeding south to south-eastern California.
graminea Townsend, CH, 1890 - Channel Is (San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Anacapa), off south-western California (USA), and Los Coronados Is, off north-western Baja California (Mexico).
montana Henshaw, 1884 - Breeds in western USA throughout Rocky Mts and Great Basin from south-eastern Washington east to north-central Montana, south to northern and eastern California and northern New Mexico. Non-breeding south to south-eastern California and northern Mexico (eastern Sonora east to Coahuila).
melodia (Wilson, 1810) - Breeds from west-central Canada (Prairie Provinces and eastern Great Plains) east to Newfoundland, and southern in USA (except middle Atlantic coast) to northern Georgia. Non-breeding south to Florida and southern Texas.
atlantica Todd, 1924 - Breeds Usouthern Atlantic coast from Long I (New York) south to central North Carolina. Non-breeding from Maryland south to Georgia.
fallax (Baird, SF, 1854) - South-western USA from southern Nevada and south-western Utah south, including eastern Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, to Gulf of California and south-eastern Arizona.
rivularis Bryant, WE, 1888 - Southern Baja California (from San Ignacio south to Sierra Laguna), in western Mexico.
goldmani Nelson, 1899 - Western Durango (El Salto), in west-central Mexico.
zacapu Dickerman, 1963 - Michoacán (Zacapu), perhaps also in Jalisco (at Laguna Chapala), in south-western Mexico.
adusta Nelson, 1899 - R Lerma from L Yuriria (Guanajuato) south to Pátzcuero (Michoacán), in south-central Mexico.
villai Phillips, AR & Dickerman, 1957 - Upper R Lerma drainage from Tarandacuao (Guanajuato) east to Toluca area (México), in south-central Mexico.
mexicana Ridgway, 1874 - Southern Hidalgo, northern México and Distrito Federal east to northern Puebla and Tlaxcala, in south-central Mexico.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet