Red Fox Sparrows
Sparrows
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Red Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca iliaca group} is the most brightly colored taxon in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a subspecies group within Fox Sparrow.
Description:
Some diagnostic plumage characteristics include a gray eye-line, chestnut ear-coverts, reddish breast streaks, a gray rump, and bright rufous tail. Geographic variation in the iliaca complex is very minuscule (Zink 1994). The Yukon Fox Sparrow, zaboria, ranges from Alaska to Manitoba. It differs from the nominate subspecies, the Eastern Fox Sparrow (iliaca), only in having a grayer head and browner malar stripe. The distinction between the subspecies is not pronounced, and therefore identification within the Red Fox Sparrow complex is not possible in the field (Beadle & Rising 2002).
Distribution / Habitat:
This complex breeds in a wide band that stretches from Newfoundland to northern Alaska. Their preferred breeding habitats are dense willow and alder thickets as well as spruce and fir bogs. Sibley (2000) describes its voice as "a loud smack like Brown Thrasher".
Subspecies in the iliaca complex
- Eastern Fox Sparrow (P. i. iliaca)
- Yukon Fox Sparrow (P. i. zaboria)
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
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