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Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow

The tidal marshes of the Middle Atlantic states are home to the coastal plain swamp sparrow, an unusual subspecies of the more widespread swamp sparrow.

Adaptations

Geographically isolated from its inland cousins for 10,000 years, the coastal plain swamp sparrow has these salt marsh habitat modifications:

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Habitat

It inhabits the upper reaches of salt marshes—an area of shrubs, grasses, and tidal guts.

wide open marsh

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Range

The breeding range includes parts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The recently discovered winter range centers in North Carolina.

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Status

Its small range and specific habitat requirements may make this population vulnerable. From 2000 to 2009, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, in cooperation with the Delmarva Ornithological Society, have surveyed its population in Delaware.

More about the survey

small brown bird singing

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Publications

Ballentine, B. 2009. The ability to perform physically challenging songs predicts age and size in male swamp sparrows, Melospiza georgiana. Animal Behaviour 77: 973-978.

Beadell, J., Greenberg, R., Droege, S. & Royle, J. A. 2003. Distribution, abundance, and habitat affinities of the Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow. Wilson Bulletin 115, 38-44.

Greenberg, R. & Droege, S. 1990. Adaptations to tidal marshes in breeding populations of the swamp sparrow. Condor 92, 393-404.

Greenberg, R. 1988. Seasonal plumage dimorphism in the swamp Sparrow. Journal of Field Ornithology 50, 49-54.

Greenberg, R. 1989. Neophobia, aversion to open space, and ecological plasticity in Song and Swamp sparrows. Canadian Journal of Zoology 67, 1194-1199.

Greenberg, R. 1992. Differences in neophobia between naive song and swamp sparrows. Ethology 91, 17-24.

Greenberg, R. 1992. Innate response to a single habitat cue in song and swamp sparrows. Oecologia 92, 299-300.

Greenberg, R. 2003. On the use of nest departure call for survey Swamp Sparrows. Journal of Field Ornithology 74, 12-16.

Greenberg, R. 2003. The use of nest departure calls for surveying Swamp Sparrows. Journal of Field Ornithology 74, 12-16.

Greenberg, R., Cordero, P., Droege, S. & Fleischer, F. 1998. Morphological adaptation in the absence of mitochondrial DNA variation in the coastal plain swamp sparrow. Auk 115, 706-712.

Greenberg, R., Marra, P. P. & Wooler, M. 2007. Stable isotope (C, N, H) analyses locate the unknown winter range of the coastal plain swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana nigrescens). The Auk 124: 1137-1148.

Greenberg, R., Olsen, B., Ballentine, B., Warner, S. & Danner, R. 2008. Temporal distribution of the Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow: The importance of subspecies identification. Birding 40: 42-49.

Liu, I. A., Lohr, B., Olsen, B. & Greenberg, R. 2008. Macrogeographic Vocal Variation in Subspecies of Swamp Sparrow. The Condor 110: 102-109.

Olsen, B., Greenberg, R., Fleischer, R. & Walters, J. 2008. Extrapair paternity in the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana: Male access or female preference? Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.

Identification

Separating the subspecies

Symposium & Workshop

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