Savannah Sparrow © nejohnston.org

Vagrant to Japan, Panama (NB), Russia (Asian), United Kingdom.

Genus sometimes subsumed in Ammodramus. Traditionally treated as conspecific with P. guttatus and Large-billed Sparrow (Passerculus rostratus), and often also with P. sanctorum, but all differ in morphology and plumage and, to some extent, in ecology and separation at species level supported by recent molecular-genetic findings. Subspecies princeps has been considered a separate species. Geographical variation of nominate subspecies largely clinal.

Other proposed subspecies are, from Canada, anthinus (described from Kodiak I, in Alaska), crassus (Sitka, in Alaska), brooksi (Chilliwack, in British Columbia), oblitus (Fort Churchill, in Manitoba) and labradorius (L'Anse-au-Loup, in Labrador), from USA mediogriseus (Ashtabula County, in extreme north-eastern Ohio), alaudinus (from California, probably San Francisco), nevadensis (Soldier Meadows, Humboldt County, in north-western Nevada) and savanna (Savannah, in eastern Georgia), from Mexico rufofuscus (Babicora, in Chihuahua) and brunnescens (Valley of Mexico), and from western Guatemala wetmorei (Hacienda Chancol); all are synonymized with nominate.

The following 21 subspecies are recognised:

• sandwichensis (Gmelin, 1789)   -  Breeds in Alaska and Canada (except extreme north) southern in USA to northern California, western Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana and northern Georgia, in central Mexico south to Puebla, possibly also south-western Guatemala, also in Russian Far East (Chukotka). Non-breeding southern Canada south to central Mexico.
• princeps Maynard, 1872   -  Breeds Sable I, in eastern Canada (eastern Nova Scotia). Winters on Atlantic coast of USA (eastern Massachusetts south to southern Georgia).
• labradorius Howe, 1901   -  Eastern Quebec, Labrador and Newfoundland; > to south-eastern Texas.
• savanna (Wilson, A, 1811)   -  Nova Scotia, Prince Edward I. and Magdalen I.; > to Bahamas.
• anthinus Bonaparte, 1853   -  Aleutians and northern Alaska to south-western Canada; > to Baja, southern Mexico.
• brooksi Bishop, 1915   -  Vancouver I. and coastal south-western Br. Col. to north-western Calif.; > to Baja.
• alaudinus Bonaparte, 1853   -  Coastal northern California (Humboldt to San Luis Obispo County).
• nevadensis Grinnell, 1910   -  Great Basin and Great Plains of northern America; > to southern Mexico.
• brunnescens (Butler, AW, 1888)   -  Mexico (Durango to Jalisco, Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca).
• wetmorei van Rossem, 1938   -  Mountains of extreme south-western Guatemala.
• beldingi Ridgway, 1885   -  Breeds extreme south-western USA (coastal southern California southern from Santa Barbara, possibly from San Luis Obispo County) southern in north-western Mexico (Baja California), including Todos Santos I, to Laguna de Ojo Liebre. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Belding's Sparrow (Passerculus guttatus).
• anulus Huey, 1930   -  Bahía Vizcaino area of Baja California.
• guttatus Lawrence, 1867   -  Breeds in southern Baja California from Laguna San Ignacio south to Bahí­a Magdalena. Non-breeding south to Cabo San Lucas. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Belding's Sparrow (Passerculus guttatus).
• magdalenae van Rossem, 1947   -  Coastal western Baja California (Bahia Magdalena region).
• sanctorum Coues, 1884   -  San Benito Islands (off western Baja California). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, San Benito Sparrow (Passerculus sanctorum).
• rostratus (Cassin, 1852)   -  Breeds in north-eastern Baja California (delta of R Colorado, San Felipe) and north-western Sonora (mouth of R Colorado south to Patos I), in north-western Mexico. Non-breeding north to extreme south-western USA (Salton Sea, Santa Cruz and Channel Is, all in southern California) and on both shores of Baja California south to Cabo San Lucas. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Large-billed Sparrow (Passerculus rostratus).
• atratus van Rossem, 1930   -  Breeds from coast of Sonora (Tepopa Bay and Kino Bay) south to central Sinaloa (El Molino). Non-breeding individuals perhaps wander to extreme southern Baja California. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Large-billed Sparrow (Passerculus rostratus).
• oblitus Peters & Griscom, 1938   -  Central Canada and north-central US; > to north-eastern Mexico.
• mediogriseus Aldrich, 1940   -  South-eastern Canada (Ontario to Gaspé Pen.) and north-eastern US; > south-eastern US.
• crassus Peters & Griscom, 1938   -  South-eastern Alaska (Alexander Arch.) and adjacent mainland Alaska.
• rufofuscus Camras, 1940   -  Central Arizona and northern New Mexico to northern Mexico (Chihuahua).

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