Cistothorus stellaris

Formerly considered conspecific with C. platensis, but separated, following Remsen et al. (2021), based on differences in vocalizations and other behavior (Kroodsma 1999a,b, 2001, 2002; Robbins and Nyári 2014, Boesman 2016), as well as mitochondrial genetic data that indicate that platensis forms a clade with two restricted range species in the high Andes of Venezuela and Colombia, C. meridae Hellmayr, 1907 [Merida Wren] and C. apolinari Chapman, 1914 [Apolinar’s Wren], to the exclusion of stellaris (Robbins and Nyári 2014) (AOS 2021).

This species has an extremely large range, is known from many occurrences, and with no evidence of population declines or significant threats at a global level. Conservation practices that could benefit this species include protection of wetlands, especially sedge meadow and other wet-meadow habitats.

This species breeds in North America from central-eastern Alberta, central Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, western and southern Ontario, extreme southwestern Quebec, central Maine and southeastern New Brunswick (probably) south to northwestern and east-central Arkansas, southern Illinois, central Kentucky, west-central West Virginia, and southeastern Virginia, and west to northeastern Montana, eastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma (Jalava 1993, AOU 1998, Hekert et al. 2021). Breeding and summering also occur very locally from the regular breeding range east to northeastern New Brunswick, Canada, and south through most eastern U.S. states to both shores of the lower Chesapeake Bay, where species breeds regularly from southern Maryland to Virginia, and south to northern West Virginia, northern Kentucky, and central Arkansas (Herkert et al. 2021).

This species winters in North America from western Tennessee and Maryland (casually farther north) south to southern New Mexico, western and southern Texas, eastern Chihuahua and central and eastern Durango east to Tamaulipas and south to northern Veracruz, Mexico, the Gulf coast region and southern Florida (AOU 1998, Hekert et al. 2021).

This species is casual in California, Montana, southeastern Wyoming, and Colorado, USA (AOU 1998). It is a vagrant to North America's Pacific Coast, north to Vancouver, British Columbia and south to Orange County, California, and has been recorded once in the Bahamas and Caribbean on Grand Bahama Island (Levesque et al. 2019, Hekert et al. 2021).

This species is represented by a large number of occurrences with an extremely large range (Birdlife International 2014, eBird 2021, NatureServe 2021).

Overall threats are likely low. Habitat loss in the eastern US appears to have been the most important factor contributing to population declines in this region (Gibbs and Melvin 1992, Peterjohn and Sauer 1999). IUCN (Birdlife International 2016) does not include any threats in their assessment. Birds of the World (Herkert et al. 2021) includes fatal collisions with television towers and buildings, loss and draining of wetlands and wet-grass habitats, draining of wetlands and subsequent conversion to agriculture land, and disturbance to nests as possible threats.