Bahamas, Belize, Canada (P), Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 100,000,000 (2010).
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) [XC327576]
by William Whitehead from Spindletop Farm, United States (call)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella) [XC444639]
by Richard E. Webster from Yuba Gap, Placer County, California, United States (call)
Subspecies
Probably closely related to Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) and Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri), and individuals of the three in first-winter plumage difficult to differentiate. Geographical variation rather minimal, and in North America clinal, with slight increase in darkness from west to east. Also substantial individual variation within populations.
Proposed subspecies stridula (described from Pasadena, California) and boreophila (from Fort Simpson, Mackenzie, in Canada) are considered synonyms of arizonae, comparanda (from south-eastern Nayarit, in western Mexico) is included within atremaea, repetens (from R Molino in southern Oaxaca, in Mexico) is subsumed in mexicana, and cicada (from near Chalatenango, in north-western El Salvador) is synonymized with pinetorum.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
arizonae Coues, 1872 - Breeds in eastern Alaska, western and central Canada (from western Yukon and central Mackenzie east to northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba and western Ontario) and western USA (east to western and central Texas), south to Mexico (northern Baja California, north-western Sonora, south-western Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila). Non-breeding from south-western USA (central California, southern Nevada, central and south-eastern Arizona, central New Mexico and central Texas) south to southern Baja California and highlands of Mexico (south to Oaxaca).
passerina (Bechstein, 1798) - Breeds in northern Minnesota, northern Michigan and south-eastern Canada (central Ontario and southern Quebec east to south-western Newfoundland) southern in USA to southern Oklahoma, south-eastern Texas, central Louisiana, southern Mississippi, north-western Florida, central Georgia and south-eastern South Carolina. Non-breeding from Oklahoma and Arkansas east to Virginia and Maryland south to southern Florida, Gulf Coast and north-eastern Mexico (Nuevo León and Tamaulipas).
atremaea Moore, RT, 1937 - Western Mexico in Sierra Madre Occidental from southern Chihuahua and southern Durango east to central Nuevo León and south to Aguascalientes and north-eastern Jalisco.
mexicana Nelson, 1899 - Highlands of central and southern Mexico from Nayarit, north-central Jalisco, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and eastern Veracruz south to Chiapas, and north-western Guatemala.
pinetorum Salvin, 1863 - North-eastern Guatemala (eastern Petén), Belize, Honduras, northern El Salvador and north-eastern Nicaragua.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet