Chipping Sparrow - Systematics

Systematics

Chipping Sparrows vary across their extensive North American range. There is minor geographic variation in appearance, and there is significant geographic variation in behavior. Ornithologists often divide the Chipping Sparrow into two major groups: the Eastern Chipping Sparrow and the Western Chipping Sparrow. However, there is additional plumage and behavioral variation within the Western group.

At least two subspecies of Chipping Sparrows occur in western North America. The widespread Spizella passerina arizonae is associated with mountains and arid habitats of the western interior. A Pacific slope population constitutes subspecies S. p. stridula. Although these two races are both western, and are often lumped together as the Western Chipping Sparrow, they do not necessarily form a single entity that stands apart from the Eastern Chipping Sparrow (S. p. passerina).