Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B), Venezuela.
Vagrant to Barbados, Ecuador, Jamaica.
Breeds extreme southern Canada and central and east-central USA; migrates to Middle America and northern South America.
Population
Estimated population is 22,000,000 (2010).
Status LC
Heavy persecution in its wintering grounds in Venezuela, where roosts are poisoned with toxic agrochemicals, is perhaps the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
In huge flocks in the winter, and up to 10-30% of the global population may occur in a single roost.
Dickcissel (Spiza americana) [XC844272]
by Dany Sloan from Battle Creek Upper Afton (near Maplewood), Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States (song)
Dickcissel (Spiza) [XC429263]
by Paul Driver from Sheyenne National Grassland - McLeod, Richland County, North Dakota, United States (song)
Subspecies
Has in the past been placed in New World blackbird family (Icteridae), and thought by some to be intermediate between that and New World sparrows (Emberizidae). Recent molecular-genetic studies support placement in present family.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet