Date: 11/27/25 2:04 am From: Matt Dufort via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Hi Julia et al.,
Savannah Sparrows are definitely present near Seattle in winter, but many
of the sightings in eBird are undoubtedly misidentifications. They are much
more regular in open grassy areas like the Snoqualmie Valley, but even
there they're pretty low density in winter.
Interestingly, they often move locally in response to snowfall, showing up
on the shores of Puget Sound and local lakes after snow covers their
preferred habitat. Other species that are relatively rare in Seattle in
winter but get driven here by snow include pipits, meadowlarks, and
shorebirds including Least Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher.
Good birding,
Matt Dufort
On Wed, Nov 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM Kim Thorburn via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
> Western Washington, yes. I was quite surprised, though, by a couple of
> Savannah Sparrows (mixed in with a few American Tree Sparrows) on a cold,
> foggy day last week on the northern end of the Douglas Plateau . The
> habitat was right. Maybe distracted by the mild fall weather.
>
> Kim
>
>
>
> Kim Marie Thorburn, MD, MPH
>
> Spokane, WA
>
> (509) 465-3025 home
>
> (509) 599-6721 cell
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Tweeters <tweeters-bounces...> on behalf
> of Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 26, 2025 2:18 PM
> *To:* Julia H <azureye...>
> *Cc:* TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters...>
> *Subject:* Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
>
> Julia, small numbers of Savannah Sparrows winter widely in western
> Washington (like the alliteration?), all the way north into southwestern
> BC. I would expect them only in wide-open grassy areas, but if those are
> present, there could be Savannahs there.
>
> Dennis Paulson
> Seattle
>
> On Nov 26, 2025, at 2:02 PM, Julia H via Tweeters <
> <tweeters...> wrote:
>
> I was surprised to see an ebird checklist for a local (Seattle) park that
> included savannah sparrow.
>
> In my experience I never see savannah sparrows in Seattle in winter, which
> would seem to make sense based on their feeding patterns (I'm not sure how
> they'd survive winter!), and this range map from Cornell seems to agree:
> https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Savannah_Sparrow/maps-range >
> But when I look at the range map for savannah sparrow based on
> ebird-reported observations, one gets the impression that there's quite a
> lot of savannah sparrows in western Washington in winter:
> https://ebird.org/map/savspa?neg=true&<env.minX...>&<env.minY...>&<env.maxX...>&<env.maxY...>&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&excludeExX=false&excludeExAll=false&mr=12-2&bmo=12&emo=2&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2025 >
> Should I be looking harder for this sparrow in winter? Or is that
> aggregated data just likely a lot of rather mistaken birders?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julia
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