Date: 11/27/25 8:35 pm From: Bob Boekelheide via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Hello, Julia, Teresa, and Tweeters,
In winter on the north Olympic Peninsula, small numbers of Savannah Sparrows occur at brushy edges of coastal grasslands and marshes, maybe because temperatures close to salt water are relatively more balmy than elsewhere. We sometimes see them in flocks with other sparrows, but much of the time they are by themselves.
On the Sequim-Dungeness CBC, we typically record them at places around Dungeness Bay, like Cline Spit, Dungeness Landing Park, Three Crabs, Jamestown, Graysmarsh Beach, and on Dungeness Spit. There aren’t a lot of them — the average annual number for the last 30 years of the SDCBC is only 24, and the high count since the SDCBC started in 1975 is 77.
Every so often Savannah Sparrows have a big year when they’re pretty easy to find, like 2004 (77), 2013 (57), and 2021 (55), but they also have very low years, like we only recorded 2 in 2012. We've recorded fewer than 10 Savannah Sparrows five times in the last 30 years, so it certainly helps to be in the right place at the right time. The last time we missed Savannah Sparrow on the SDCBC was 1985.
Examples of other places where we sometimes see Savannah Sparrows around here in winter are on Ediz Hook in Port Angeles and the Waatch River Valley at Neah Bay. Any coastal grassy marsh might be worth a look, though.
In winter along the Hood Canal, maybe look for them at the brushy edges of marshy river mouths, like the Dosewallips and Duckabush River mouths, and Theler Wetlands.
Bob Boekelheide
Dungeness
From: Teresa Michelsen via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Date: November 27, 2025 at 8:57:41 AM PST
Just out of curiosity, have there been any sightings in winter on the Olympic Peninsula? Feel free to send one my way up on the slopes above Hoodsport :D
Teresa Michelsen
Hoodsport
From: Julia H via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Subject: [Tweeters] Savannah sparrows in winter?
Date: November 26, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST
To: <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...> Reply-To: Julia H <azureye...> <mailto:<azureye...>>
I was surprised to see an ebird checklist for a local (Seattle) park that included savannah sparrow.
In my experience I never see savannah sparrows in Seattle in winter, which would seem to make sense based on their feeding patterns (I'm not sure how they'd survive winter!), and this range map from Cornell seems to agree: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Savannah_Sparrow/maps-range
But when I look at the range map for savannah sparrow based on ebird-reported observations, one gets the impression that there's quite a lot of savannah sparrows in western Washington in winter
Should I be looking harder for this sparrow in winter? Or is that aggregated data just likely a lot of rather mistaken birders?
