Nelson's Sparrow

Ammospiza nelsoni

Hides in coastal marsh grass and sings what sounds like a wet match striking. Stealth-mode courier.

Population: ~1,000,000 mature individuals (2019 estimate), trend increasing
Habitat: Freshwater and brackish marshes and wet meadows for breeding (Canadian prairie potholes, Hudson Bay lowlands, interior grasslands); salt marshes with emergent grasses along the southeastern US Atlantic and Gulf coasts in winter
Fun fact: Nelson's Sparrow hybridizes with the closely related Saltmarsh Sparrow where their breeding ranges overlap in New England salt marshes, producing fertile hybrid offspring.
Range: Breeds in a discontinuous range across the northern Great Plains/prairie Canada, the coastal strip south of Hudson Bay/James Bay, and the Atlantic coast of Maine and Canadian Maritimes; winters in coastal salt marshes from the mid-Atlantic US south along the Gulf Coast into Mexico
Diet: Insects and other small invertebrates (including aquatic/marsh invertebrates), supplemented with seeds; forages by walking or hopping on the ground and marsh substrate, sometimes probing mud
Size: 0.12 m
Wingspan: 0.18 m
Lifespan: 10 years

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