Saltmarsh Sparrow On My Statelist Once Again, Kiawah Island, South Carolina, October 27, 2023

I’ve birded the southeast Atlantic coast for many years; in fact for many decades.  Much of my coastal birding time predates the split of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow into Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows.  So when the split occurred I simply had Sharp-tailed Sparrow on my statelist for each of the Atlantic coastal states.  Unfortunately, back then I did not look close enough at the sparrows to note the differences, so I have no idea if I saw either one or both species in a number of states.  And both species are present on the southern coast at the same time of the year, so the timing of my past trips doesn’t help me to determine which species I may have seen.  So for a while, I arbitrarily put Saltmarsh Sparrow on my state list for a number of coastal states. 

I partially clarified this situation for SC on October 20, 2022.  My wife and I had taken a vacation to Kiawah Island on the SC coast and of course I added in some birding time.  I had received a tip to try for these marsh sparrows near high tide, since the high water levels flush these skulking birds from the marsh grasses.  I headed to the extensive Spartina marshes near the bridge onto the island to try for the sparrows, arriving right at high tide.  I was lucky enough to spot a Nelson’s of the Atlantic race that day.  Over the next 30 minutes I flushed 2 Seasides and no less than 5 other smaller, lighter colored sparrows, but all flew deep into the marsh and dropped in without perching.  Undoubtedly all were Saltmarsh or Nelson’s, but none cooperated enough for a definitive ID.  As a result, I added Nelson’s to my SC statelist and took off Saltmarsh.  I’d have to wait for a future visit to try for Saltmarsh Sparrow. 

That next opportunity came in October 2023 when we once again took a fall vacation on Kiawah Island.  And I once again planned to head to the Spartina marshes near the bridge onto the island to look for those skulking sparrows.  My first try was the high tide the evening of the 25th.  I was successful in flushing 10 sparrows from the perimeter of the marsh, but unfortunately all were Seasides.  I felt like I had my system to spot these marsh sparrows down pretty well.  I just wasn’t finding the right species.

I had one more chance to search for my target bird the last morning of our trip with a high tide near sunrise.  Little did I know that the high tide that day was exceptionally high due to the full moon.  When I arrived at the marsh I was shocked to see nearly the entire marsh underwater.  In this picture what looks like open water is actually flooded dense Spartina marsh grasses.  And the tide was still rising!

I climbed down the bank of the entrance road and stood ankle-deep at the edge of the marsh – a spot that was far out of the water at other high tides.  My plan was to try to work the normally dry shrubs along the road embankment which was the only vegetation in the area that was above the water level.  It was still too dark for any positive IDs, so I just stood at the edge waiting for sunrise.  Soon I started to see a number of individual small sparrows flying out of the marsh to the vegetation in front of me to get out of the flooding.  I was cautiously optimistic.

When I thought it was finally light enough to be able to identify the sparrows, I started playing a few Saltmarsh call notes, and instantly got Seaside Sparrows to come out and perch just a few feet in front of me.  At one point I had 10 Seasides in view at once in a small bush, most giving pretty good views.  But still no Saltmarsh (or Nelson’s for that matter).  Then I finally noticed one bird with an orange face.  The bird had fine flank and chest streaking, and only a faint orange wash below.  I had my target Saltmarsh Sparrow.  Later I counted 11 more Seaside’s in another bush.  Even though I covered a very small area I had 21 Seasides.  Surprisingly, I only no other Saltmarsh or Nelson’s.

And now that I confirmed Nelson’s the previous year, I could finally add Saltmarsh Sparrow (once again) to my SC statelist - #302.

I’ve now seen this species in all the states in its range along the Atlantic coast except cross-hatched Georgia (see my statebird map below).  My experience with Saltmarsh Sparrow in GA is like that in SC – I saw “Sharp-tailed” Sparrows there years ago, and have seen Nelson’s more recently but not yet Saltmarsh.