Date: 11/27/25 9:09 am From: Teresa Michelsen via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Just out of curiosity, have there been any sightings in winter on the Olympic Peninsula? Feel free to send one my way up on the slopes above Hoodsport :D
Teresa Michelsen
Hoodsport
From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces...> On Behalf Of Gary Bletsch via Tweeters
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2025 4:55 AM
To: Julia H <azureye...>
Cc: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters...>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Dear Julia,
This is an interesting question. I always consider it a banner day, when I find a Savannah Sparrow in winter. Your question led me to check on this.
Here is what my own birding data reveals. In Skagit County, I have seen the Savannah Sparrow 66 times during the months of December, January, and February. Over that same span of time, I saw the Song Sparrow 3058 times. It appears that one's chances of finding a Savannah Sparrow in winter, at least in Skagit County, where I've done most of my Washington State birding, would be around one-fiftieth that of finding a Song Sparrow!
On reflection, I'd say that the chances are probably even slimmer than that. Quite a few of those 66 Savannah Sparrow sightings were the result of my following up on a sighting that someone else had reported, often in a place where I probably would not have gone birding, had I not been trying to find my first Savannah of the year, or my last.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
On Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at 05:03:53 PM EST, Julia H via Tweeters <tweeters...><mailto:<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
