Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow (Melozone kieneri) [XC398652]
by id from \u00c1lamos, Sonora, Mexico (call)
Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow (Melozone kieneri) [XC331976]
by Richard E. Webster from El ocotal, Comala, Colima, Mexico (song)
Subspecies
Formerly considered close to, and has been considered conspecific with, Prevost's Ground-sparrow (Melozone biarcuata), but differs in both adult and juvenile plumages. Geographical variation appears to be slight, but poorly documented. Subspecies grisius often considered synonymous with nominate.
Proposed subspecies obscurius (described on basis of a single specimen from south-west of Sola de Vega, in south-western Oaxaca) appears to differ little from rubricatum, with which it is synonymized.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
grisior (Bonaparte, 1850) - Extreme south-eastern Sonora and northern Sinaloa, in western Mexico.
kieneri (Bonaparte, 1850) - Extreme southern Sonora, Sinaloa, western Durango, Nayarit, western Jalisco and Colima, in western Mexico.
rubricata (Cabanis, 1851) - Central and south-western Mexico from southern Guanajuato and Michoacán east to Morelos, south-western Puebla, Guerrero and western Oaxaca.
obscurior Phillips, 1966 - Arid Pacific slope of north-western Mexico (south-eastern Sonora and north-eastern Sinaloa).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet