• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,570,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	11,700,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	23000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2019
Population trend	increasing	-	estimated	-
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10%	-	-	-
Generation length	2.01 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number 23 million mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2019).

Trend justification: The species has been undergoing a large increase at an average rate of 1.1% per year between 1970 and 2017 (Partners in Flight 2019). Short-term trends suggest that the population has increased by 10% over the past ten years, though this value is non-significant (Pardieck et al. 2018). Trends however vary geographically, with populations in the northern part of the range increasing and populations in the southern part declining (Meehan et al. 2018).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Bahamas	extant	vagrant			yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant			yes
Canada	extant	native	yes	yes	yes	yes
Mexico	extant	native			yes
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native		yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	vagrant			yes
USA	extant	native	yes	yes	yes	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/swamp-sparrow-melospiza-georgiana on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.