Population
Estimated population is 250,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Habitat fragmentation through timber harvesting practices, fire suppression and disturbance by birdwatchers are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Voice
Song is a whistle followed by a trill, usually given from a pine tree or bush or sometimes in a song flight.
Bachman's Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) [XC877051]
by John A. Middleton Jr. from Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida, United States (song)
Bachman's Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) [XC102115]
by Andrew Spencer from Three Lakes WMA, Prairie Lakes Unit, Osceola Co., Florida, United States (call, song)
Subspecies
Formerly placed in Aimophila, but molecular-genetic studies indicate that such treatment would make that genus polyphyletic. Closely related to Cassin's Sparrow (Peucaea cassinii) and Botteri's Sparrow (Peucaea botterii), all having aerial song displays. Molecular analyses suggest that this group is close to a clade consisting of Stripe-headed Sparrow (Peucaea ruficauda), Black-chested Sparrow (Peucaea humeralis), Bridled Sparrow (Peucaea mystacalis), Cinnamon-tailed Sparrow (Peucaea sumichrasti) and Rufous-winged Sparrow (Peucaea carpalis). Geographical variation largely clinal, and subspecies weakly differentiated.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
illinoensis Ridgway, 1879 - Breeds in east-central USA from Arkansas, south-eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas east to southern Kentucky and southern Louisiana. Non-breeding eastern Texas and along Gulf Coast east to Mississippi R.
bachmani (Audubon, 1833) - Breeds south-eastern USA from southern Kentucky and southern Virginia south to southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and southern Georgia. Non-breeding in south of range (from Mississippi east to central North Carolina) south to Gulf Coast and central Florida.
aestivalis (Lichtenstein, 1823) - Breeds from eastern South Carolina and eastern Georgia south to southern Florida. Non-breeding southern Georgia and Florida.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet