Figure 1. Two views of the Saltmarsh Sparrow, Machias, Maine, February 27, 2025. Photographs by M.L. Pinsky.

On February 27, 2025, at about 10:05 am, one of us—Margaret LaFarge Pinsky—detected a sparrow that quite clearly was one of the Saltmarsh Sparrow group (Del Hoyo et al. 2020). She spotted the sparrow flying along the bank of the Machias River, Machias, Maine, as she walked her two dogs and birded on the Sunrise Trail. The bird landed in a bush along the bank and the dogs were up ahead, so she was able to stop and study it. At first, she thought it was a Nelson’s Sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni) because there appeared to be an orange triangle on the face, grey mantle, white stripes on the back, and streaking on the breast. Luckily, the bird rested in place long enough that she was able to take several photographs. Upon studying the bird closely, she decided it was a Saltmarsh Sparrow (A. caudacuta). The sharply defined blackish streaking on the breast and flanks was prominent against a lighter whitish or buff background of the upper breast, unlike the duller and more diffuse streaks that would be present on the bright buffy breast of inland populations of Nelson’s Sparrow (A. n. nelsoni), or the very diffuse streaks and green gray overtones of A. n. subvirgata, the breeding form of coastal Maine and New Hampshire.

There is marsh on both sides of the trail where the sparrow was, and at that time it was cloudy and windy with snow flurries, and the tide was very high, so the ice-covered marsh was flooded. When she moved on, the bird flew and was not spotted again. Lafarge Pinsky obtained two color photographs that show the plumage typical of A. caudacuta (Figure 1).