seaside sparrow

Adults have brownish upperparts with gray on the crown and nape, and a grayish-buff-colored breast with dark streaks; they have a dark face with gray cheeks, a white throat, and a short, pointed tail. Birds show a small yellow streak just above the eye. A typical seaside sparrow lifespan in 8 to 9 years of maximum.{{cite web |title=SEASIDE SPARROW LIFE EXPECTANCY |url=https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/bird-life-expectancy-seaside-sparrow |website=World Life Expectancy |access-date=23 July 2022}} The oldest record of seaside sparrow was an individual male which was at least 10 years old when recaptured and re-released during the banding operations in South Carolina.{{cite web |title=Seaside Sparrow Overview |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Seaside_Sparrow/ |website=All About Birds |access-date=23 July 2022}}

Their breeding habitat is salt marshes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States from southern New Hampshire to southern Texas. The nest is an open cup usually built in the salt marsh on tidal reeds and spartina grasses. Females lay two to five eggs.{{cn|date=August 2024}} Northern birds most often migrate farther south along the eastern coast of the United States. They forage on the ground or in marsh vegetation, sometimes probing in mud. They mainly eat insects, marine invertebrates and seeds. Their feeding areas are often some distance away from the areas they choose to nest.{{cn|date=August 2024}} The song is a raspy buzz that closely resembles a distant red-winged blackbird.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

File:Dusky Seaside Sparrow.jpg (A. m. nigrescens)|upright]]

One of the numerous subspecies of this bird, the dusky seaside sparrow (A. m. nigrescens), has recently become extinct, and the Cape Sable subspecies, A. m. mirabilis, is endangered. Occurring in a restricted range but of uncertain validity is Scott's seaside sparrow, (A. m. peninsulae). The small isolated population that is near Corpus Christi, Texas, south to the Rio Grande and the sennetti subspecies may also have risk to endangered,{{cite web |author=Jon S. Greenlaw |author2=W. Gregory Shriver |author3=William Post |title=Seaside Sparrow - Ammospiza maritima |url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/seaspa/cur/introduction |website=Birds of the World |access-date=23 July 2022 |date=July 1, 2022}} those were formerly considered a separate species.

Currently there are eight subspecies recognized:{{cite web |title=Report: Ammodramus maritimus |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=179346 |website=ITIS |access-date=23 July 2022}}

• Ammospiza maritima fisheri (Chapman, 1899)
• Ammospiza maritima macgillivraii (Audubon, 1834)
• Ammospiza maritima maritima (A. Wilson, 1811) – Nominate subspecies{{cite web |title=Seaside Sparrow |url=https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/59597.html |website=NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation |access-date=23 July 2022}}
• Ammospiza maritima mirabilis (A. H. Howell, 1919) - Cape Sable seaside sparrow
• Ammospiza maritima nigrescens (Ridgway, 1874) - Dusky seaside sparrow †
• Ammospiza maritima pelonota (Oberholser, 1931)
• Ammospiza maritima peninsulae (J. A. Allen, 1888) - Scott's seaside sparrow
• Ammospiza maritima sennetti (J. A. Allen, 1888)

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{{Wikispecies|Ammodramus maritimus}}

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• {{InternetBirdCollection|seaside-sparrow-ammodramus-maritimus|Seaside sparrow}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080829171922/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/20228000.htm Stamps]}} (for the United States) with a range map at bird-stamps.org
• {{VIREO|seaside+sparrow|Seaside sparrow}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121008153338/http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wwwsounds/birds/hardy96ash.wav Dusky seaside sparrow bird sound] at the Florida Museum of Natural History
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121008153347/http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wwwsounds/birds/hardy96bsh.wav Cape Sable seaside sparrow bird sound] at the Florida Museum of Natural History
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083203/http://www.aba.org/birding/v37n5p490.pdf "Ecological and Genetic Diversity in the Seaside Sparrow"] (pdf, 0.95 Mb)
• {{IUCN_Map|22721123|Ammodramus maritimus}}

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seaside sparrow

Category:Endemic birds of the Eastern United States

seaside sparrow

Category:Taxa named by Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)