Passerculus sandwichensis
Silhouette: Caleb M. Gordon · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) is a small New World sparrow that is the only member of the genus Passerculus. It is a widespread and abundant species that occupies open grassland habitats in North America.
Over most of its range it is migratory, breeding in Canada and the northern United States while wintering in Mexico and the southern United States. It is a sexually monomorphic species that is quite variable in appearance. Around 17 subspecies are currently recognised. These are divided into several groups, some of which have sometimes been considered as separate species.
The species name sandwichensis is Latin from Sandwich Sound (now Prince William Sound) in southern Alaska from where the first specimen was collected. The common name refers to Savannah, Georgia, where Alexander Wilson observed the species in 1811.
The Savannah sparrow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the buntings in the genus Emberiza and coined the binomial name Emberiza sandwichensis. Gmelin based his text on the Sandwich bunting that had been... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 7 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Savannah Sparrow sighting in Death Valley National Park on a given day, based on 252 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 33rd most-seen of the 213 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Savannah Sparrow in Death Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month. That is one of Death Valley National Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 30 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Savannah 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.
8th of 47
Of the 47 parks where we can rate Savannah Sparrow sightings, Death Valley National Park ranks 8th at about 20%. The best odds are in Gros Morne National Park (Canada, about 50%), El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 40%) and Denali National Park (United States, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Passerellidae
The closest relatives of the Savannah Sparrow that you can see in Death Valley National Park (family Passerellidae, New World Sparrows) are White-crowned Sparrow (about 50%), 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 Savannah Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Death Valley National Park (252 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.
