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Measurements
Linear
Wing Length
Live birds, chord from wrist to tip of longest primary: breeding season male A. m. maritimus, 60.9 mm (SD 1.85, n = 52, range 56.5–64.5); breeding season female, 57.5 (1.5, 54, 54.0–61.0); breeding season male A. m. peninsulae, 58.8 (1.43, 47, 55.5–61.5); breeding season female, 54.9 mm (0.91, 27, 53.0–56.5); breeding season male A. m. nigrescens, 59.2 (2.23, 17, 56.0–63.0); breeding season female, 56.5 (1.75, 15, 54.0–59.0) (C. H. Trost). Wing length decreases through breeding season (Post 1972). Most males can be differentiated from females on basis of wing length (Post 1972).
Wing Area
(Measurement method give in Pennycuick 1989 .) Male, 74.6 cm2 (n = 2, range 73.4–75.8); female, 72.8 cm2 (7, 60.9–84.4) (WP).
Wing Span
Male, 19.7 cm (n = 2, range 18.5–20.5); female, 19.3 cm (1) (WP).
Mass
A. m. maritimus, Oak Beach, NY: breeding season male, 24.3 g (SD 1.44, n =165, range 19.1–28.7); breeding season female, 22.2 g (1.67, 119, 19.4–28.5); nonbreeding season male, 26.3 g (1.67, 47, 23.6–30.4); nonbreeding season female, 23.9 g (1.44, 38, 21.7–27.2) (WP).
A. m. peninsulae, Gulf Hammock, FL: breeding season male, 22.6 g (1.36, 17, 20.0–25.8); breeding season female, 19.8 g (1.14,10, 18.9–23.2); nonbreeding season male, 23.9 g (1.32, 17, 22.3–25.6); nonbreeding season female, 21.5 g (1.46, 1619.5–23.5; WP).
Diurnal variation (A. m. maritimus): in breeding season, weight lowest at dawn, highest in mid-afternoon (1500–1700 h). During this 10-h period, male weight increases by 9%, female weight by 13% (Post 1972). For geographic variation in size, see Appendix.
Body Mass And Composition
(Dunning 1993). Wet mass: 21.81 g (SD 1.73, n = 50, range 18.47–25.56); dry mass: 7.84 g (SD 0.72, n = 50, range 6.41–9.68); fat-free mass: 19.55 g (SD 1.60, n = 50, range 16.55–22.84); ash-free mass: 18.54 g (SD 1.58, n = 42, range 15.85–21.89).
Adrenals weigh 0.0036-0.0076 % of body weight; thyroids, 0.0049-0.0083 % (n=4; A.m. fisheri; Hartman 1945).
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
