Melospiza georgiana
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) is a medium-sized New World sparrow related to the song sparrow. Measurements: Length: 4.7–5.9 in (12–15 cm) Weight: 0.5–0.8 oz (15–23 g) Wingspan: 7.1–7.5 in (18–19 cm) Adults have streaked rusty, buff and black upperparts with an unstreaked gray breast, light belly and a white throat. The wings are strikingly rusty. Most males and a few females have rust-colored caps. Their face is gray with a dark line through the eye. They have a short bill and fairly long legs. Immature birds and winter adults usually have two brown crown stripes and much of the gray is replaced with buff.
Swamp sparrows breed across the northern United States and boreal Canada. The southern edge of their breeding range coincides largely with the Line of Maximum Glaciation. A small number of morphologically distinct birds inhabit tidal marshes from northern Virginia to the Hudson River Estuary. This subspecies (M. g. nigrescens) winters in coastal marshes of the Carolinas and differs from the two inland swamp sparrow subspecies in having more black in a grayer overall plumage, larger bill, different songs, and a smaller average... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Voyageurs National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Wood Buffalo National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Isle Royale National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 18 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 19 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Swamp Sparrow sighting in Banff National Park on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 137th most-seen of the 191 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Swamp Sparrow in Banff National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Swamp Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Swamp Sparrow sightings, Banff National Park ranks 17th at under 5%. The best odds are in Riding Mountain National Park (Canada, about 40%), Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 30%) and Voyageurs National Park (United States, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Melospiza
The closest relatives of the Swamp Sparrow that you can see in Banff National Park (genus Melospiza, Melospiza Sparrows) are Song Sparrow (about 30%) and Lincoln's Sparrow (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Swamp Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Banff National Park (30 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
