Red Fox Sparrow

Overview

The red fox sparrow is the collective name for the most brightly coloured taxa in the American sparrow genus Passerella, specifically the Passerella iliaca iliaca group. Currently classified as a subspecies group within fox sparrows pending wider acceptance of species status, it is believed to represent the basalmost divergence of the fox sparrow clade.

Identification

• A large sparrow measuring 15–19 cm in length with an average weight of 32 grams.
• Features a grey head with rufous crown and ear coverts, a white throat with rufous lateral stripes, and a breast with reddish brown streaks and a messy central spot.
• The lower bill is yellow, transitioning to black at the top, while the back displays distinct rufous and grey streaks.
• Produces a vocalisation described as "a loud smack like Brown Thrasher".

Habitat

Breeding occurs in a wide band of taiga habitat stretching from Newfoundland to northern Alaska, favouring dense willow and alder thickets as well as spruce and fir bogs. During winter, the birds occupy temperate and subtropical North America, though populations in the northern United States and southern Canada often only stop over during migration. The eastern subspecies ranges from south Wisconsin and Ontario east to Massachusetts and along the coast north to southern Canada, extending south to the Gulf of Mexico and north Florida, while the Yukon subspecies occupies the area from south-east Minnesota to the Great Plains.

Did you know?

Due to the minor geographic variation between subspecies and the fact that the birds are not resident all year, positive identification within the red fox sparrow complex is often not possible in the field, particularly in certain regions.