Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)

Savannah Sparrow [ventro-lateral view of adult male]. Photograph Credit: Stephen J. Stedman; Morgan County, Tennessee; 6 June 2014.

Abundance: Uncommon from mid-October to late April; occasionally becomes Fairly Common at optimal sites during winter or, more frequently, Very Uncommon at suboptimal ones at that season; Rare or, more typically, absent (or at least considered to be absent) during summer until 2008 at which point breeding season records increasingly emerged and the species' summer status changed to Very Uncommon; recorded in 24 Regional counties, 9 in Kentucky and 15 in Tennessee (Map of UCR Distribution); the Regional population trend is uncertain for the wintering cohort, as well as for the very small breeding cohort (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Winter Resident for a small to moderate portion of the population; Transient during spring and fall for a large portion of the population; Summer Resident for a very small portion of the population beginning no later than Summer 2008; photograph (above).

Regional High Count and CBC/CBB High Count: 72 (21 December 2004; White County, Tennessee [CBC]; m. ob.).

Out-of-Season (Summer) Records:

18 June 2008 (3—1 singing) Intersection of Rt. 206 and Snake Creek Rd., Adair County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton photo).

1 July 2008 (2—1 singing) T. A. Swafford Rd., Bledsoe County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand photo, Stephen J. Stedman).

14–18 June 2009 (several—including 2 pairs and several additional singing males) Shadow Mountain Estates, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand video/audio).

21–24 June 2009 (5—including three singers and two nonsingers) Bud Tanner Rd., Mayland, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Joseph E. Mast fide Edmund K. LeGrand).

23 June 2009 (1—singing) near Christine, Adair County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton).

27 June 2009 (3—including two singers and one nonsinger) Grasslands Unit, University of Tennessee Experimental Agriculture Farm, Ted David and Dunbar roads, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand).

Late spring/summer 2010 (several) Shadow Mountain Estates, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand), a Spring Bird Count record and a Cumberland County Foray record.

30 April/27 May 2011 (1—singing) Thompson Rd., Overton County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman), an Overton County Spring Bird Count record (first date) and an Overton County Foray record (second date).

8 June 2012 (1—singing) Frisby Rd., Wayne County, Kentucky (Stephen J. Stedman), a Wayne County Foray record.

20 June 2012 (1—singing) Bellview Rd., Bledsoe County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman), a Bledsoe County Foray record.

2 June/5–6 June 2014 (1—singing/1 singing) Meister Hills Rd./Catfish Farm Rd., Morgan County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman/Edmund K. LeGrand [first date], Stephen J. Stedman [latter date] photo (6 June 2014; see top of page), a Morgan County Foray record.

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Fall: 3 September 2006 (Warren County, Tennessee; Susan N. McWhirter).

    Late Spring: 23 May 2011 (Overton County, Tennessee; Edmund K. LeGrand).

    Note: See also Out-of-Season (Summer) Records. Fall arrival widespread by 20 October; spring departure mostly complete by late 30 April. Earliest fall arrival dates and latest spring departure dates for the winters of 2002–2003 through 2011–2012 follow:

* See also Out-of-Season (Summer) Records (above).

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent).  Photos of a juvenile validated breeding during June 2008 at the Adair County, Kentucky, site noted in Out-of-Season (Summer) Records (above); breeding possibly took place during June and/or July 2008 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee; juveniles were reported during June 2009 in Cumberland County, Tennessee. Additional records were made during summers seasons that followed for a few years, and breeding is probably still occurring in the Region on a very limited basis.

Habitat: Short grass fields with some brushy edges.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 4 (of 125) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on  6 (of 206) check-lists during 2004, indicating that this species is Very Uncommon in Regional yards and neighborhoods, where one might expect little suitable habitat to be present and therefore few opportunities to register it during YardWatch efforts.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states. 

** 1 transient in 1 block also recorded in Overton County.

Remarks: The absence of records at any season in Cumberland County, Kentucky, and in Pickett County, Tennessee, is one of the ongoing mysteries of the Regional avifauna.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited