-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Mountains above Toluca Mexico? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gary1952
- Start date
lou salomon
the birdonist
song sparrow
Microtus
Maryland USA (he/him)
I pretty much agree.
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Was going to say Song Sparrow but didn't know if they occurred that far south :-O
The pine is Pinus pseudostrobus, so it can't be all that high up (2,000-3,000 m); treeline (with Pinus hartwegii) on Nevado de Toluca is at around 4,000-4,200 m, you'll probably need to get up that high for specialist alpine species like Yellow-eyed Junco.
Edit: looked up; on location it should be the subspecies Melospiza melodia mexicana. Whether that will ever be a candidate for splitting, I don't know. There is a group of 4 subspecies in the Mexican uplands isolated from the rest of the species' range, which if ever split would take the name Melospiza mexicana Ridgway, 1874.
The pine is Pinus pseudostrobus, so it can't be all that high up (2,000-3,000 m); treeline (with Pinus hartwegii) on Nevado de Toluca is at around 4,000-4,200 m, you'll probably need to get up that high for specialist alpine species like Yellow-eyed Junco.
Edit: looked up; on location it should be the subspecies Melospiza melodia mexicana. Whether that will ever be a candidate for splitting, I don't know. There is a group of 4 subspecies in the Mexican uplands isolated from the rest of the species' range, which if ever split would take the name Melospiza mexicana Ridgway, 1874.
Last edited:
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
No idea what 8700 feet is, I don't do imperialism
It does occur in central Mexico, there's a separated population there; see the map here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_Sparrow/overview :t:
pbjosh
missing the neotropics
Song Sparrow is pretty common in the area around Toluca. Sierra Madre Sparrow is not reported from that area to the immediate north of Toluca, at least in eBird. Of course that doesn't mean that Sierra Madre Sparrow could not be there.
I am no expert on these birds, but going off memory, field guides, and photos of SM Sparrow vs mexicanus Song Sparrow, I would think your bird is a Song Sparrow as well. When I was birding in that area I made certain to hear my lifer Sierra Madre Sparrows as well as just see them to remove doubt, as ID is definitely not trivial.
I am no expert on these birds, but going off memory, field guides, and photos of SM Sparrow vs mexicanus Song Sparrow, I would think your bird is a Song Sparrow as well. When I was birding in that area I made certain to hear my lifer Sierra Madre Sparrows as well as just see them to remove doubt, as ID is definitely not trivial.
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Looked that one up in HBW; found in high altitude pine savanna mostly over 2,800 m, in Pinus montezumae / P. teocote / P. hartwegii - that's a higher altitude species mix than the P. pseudostrobus in this pic. So habitat would also support the Song Sparrow ID.
Similar threads
