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Distribution
The Americas
Breeding Range
Figure 1. Along Atlantic Coast, from s. Maine to extreme ne. Florida (Duval Co.), usually in tidal marshes near coast, occasionally in subcoastal marshes on large rivers (e.g., on Hudson River 40 km north of New York Harbor; Bull 1974).
Populations on Atlantic Coast of Florida south of Duval Co. (A. m. pelonotus and A. m. nigrescens) are extinct. A disjunct population (A. m. mirabilis) in s. Florida, in interior marshes of s. Collier, Monroe, and s. Dade counties, is 300 km south of nearest Seaside Sparrows on Gulf of Mexico. Gulf Coast populations irregularly distributed from Pasco Co., FL, to lower Rio Grande Valley, TX (Fig. 1). Details for Florida at: http://myfwc.com/bba/docs/bba_SESP.pdf; for Louisiana, http://www.manybirds.com/atlas/pages/72.htm. Throughout range, separated into demes by open water and by areas of unsuitable habitat.
In Maine, at northern limit of range, very rare and local breeder (e.g., marshes at Popham Beach State Park; L. Bevier); similarily rare in New Hampshire, where apparently confined to Hampton marshes (Gavutis 1994). In Massachusetts (Raymond 2003): local, uncommon, disjunct breeder in salt marshes from Rhode Island border north to New Hampshire border (e.g., Westport/S. Dartmouth; Barnstable on Cape Cod; Parker River, Essex Co.). Increasingly abundant and more broadly distributed moving south and west along coast (e.g., Long Island, NY: [Schneider 1998; NY State Breeding Bird Atlas 2000-2005]; New Jersey: where especially common on southern Atlantic coastal marshes, and along Delaware Bay [Walsh et al. 1999]). In Maryland (O’Brien 1996), primarily lower reaches of Chesapeake Bay (Dorchester Co.), with few reaching into brackish portions of upper Bay.
Winter Range
Similar to breeding range (Fig. – CBC). Most northeastern birds (New Hampshire to New Jersey) are migratory and probably winter primarily in se. U.S. from N. Carolina to Cape Sable, FL (Robertson and Woolfenden 1992). Small numbers of northeastern birds overwinter in breeding range from s. New England and New York south. (Fig. 1).
Outside The Americas
No records.
Historical Changes
Overall dimensions of range little changed. Breeding range has expanded slightly northward, from Massachusetts into New Hampshire (by 1985; Greenlaw 1992). Recent extension of known breeding range: in 1999, A. m. sennetti was found breeding in Lower Rio Grande valley, 25 km NE of Brownsville, Texas, a southward extension of 190 km. As of 2002 also found breeding at Laguna Atascosa, 40 km N of Brownsville. Human habitat alterations have caused many gaps in distribution in historical times.
Fossil History
Unknown.
Post, William, W. Post and J. S. Greenlaw. 2009. Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/127
