Fox Sparrow –– a shy, handsome songster
By Kate Persons |
Recently, while winnowing leaves from blueberries on my deck, I pondered what bird to write about next. It was late in the season for song, but as if reading my mind, a fox sparrow serenaded me with its clear, melodious tune from the depths of a nearby willow thicket. “Why haven’t you written about me?” I imagined it asking.
And that is a good question, for the fox sparrow is our largest sparrow, and a strikingly handsome bird with a beautiful song. They are common in the Nome area but, being shy and reclusive, are more often heard than seen.
I try to spend time with a bird species before writing about it, but the fox sparrow and I have different habitat preferences. This sparrow inhabits thickets of dense vegetation where it spends much of its time foraging on the ground.
SHY SPARROW— A fox sparrow poses on an unobstructed willow stem above a dense tangle of branches where it lives much of its hidden life. Photo by Kate Persons
Theirs is a buggy environment, and for people, it is hard to move or even see between the tangle of branches. The fox sparrow’s reclusive ways have also discouraged research, and many details of its life history and breeding behavior remain unknown.
Fox sparrows breed in brushy habitats across Alaska, Canada and in the Rocky Mountain west. They occur across much of the rest of the United States during migration or in winter.
These sparrows vary greatly in appearance between regions. Four main groups and 18 subspecies are recognized across the fox sparrow’s range. Only ours, the red fox sparrow that breeds across North America’s northernmost boreal forests, has the “foxy” red coloration for which this sparrow is named.
The fox sparrow is a common breeder in medium-height shrub habitats across the Seward Peninsula. They prefer shrub thickets with dense growth up to about six feet above the ground for nesting and feeding, with a higher canopy overhead for perching.
FEEDER DYNAMICS— A tiny but feisty juvenile redpoll dares to challenge a hefty juvenile fox sparrow at the birdfeeder. Although fox sparrows are our largest sparrow, they are usually mild mannered at the feeder. Their large size generally prevents them from being pushed around, but they are not as assertive as the slightly smaller golden-crowned sparrow (juvenile on far left) and white-crowned sparrow (not shown). Fox sparrows like to stay hidden in dense vegetation but they are readily lured out of the bushes to fuel up at birdfeeders, preferably eating spilled seed on the ground. Photo by Kate Persons
Fox sparrows occasionally stray onto St. Lawrence Island in fall, and more rarely in spring. Interestingly, the sooty form of the fox sparrow, which breeds no closer than the eastern Aleutians and the Alaska Peninsula is seen at Gambell more often than the red form that breeds on the adjacent Seward Peninsula.
In spring, the first fox sparrows usually arrive during the first week of May. Some quickly find and refuel at our birdfeeder. One of the best times to get a good look at these shy, streaky-breasted, rufous sparrows is when they feed on spilled seed on snow beneath a feeder, unobscured by leaves and branches.
Males and females look the same and arrive at the same time in spring. Males whistle their beautiful complex and clear song to establish and defend their territories, often from a perch near the top of a tree or shrub. Pairs form within a week of arrival after males have set up their territories.
In western and central Alaska most fox sparrows (75 percent in one study) nest on the ground beneath dense shrubbery. Fewer build their nests in low, brushy crotches of trees or shrubs.
The female builds a nest cup of twigs, dried grass and other plant parts and lines it with soft grass, fur or feathers. In late May or early June, she lays three to five eggs and incubates them for about two weeks.
After hatch the female feeds and broods the naked, helpless nestlings while her mate contributes some food and defends the nest. In nine or ten days short-tailed fledglings leave the nest to occupy the surrounding brushy habitat. The parents continue to feed and protect their young for about three weeks. They warn of danger with a sharp “smack” call and use a broken wing display to lure predators away from their young.
During the breeding season the fox sparrow’s diet consists mainly of animal foods—insects, spiders and small snails, supplemented with some berries and seeds. Chicks are fed almost entirely protein-rich animal foods to fuel growth. During the nonbreeding season they are more omnivorous, eating a mixture of fruits, seeds, buds and insects.
Fox sparrows feed on the ground, mostly under dense cover, using a distinctive maneuver to find food. They hop forward quickly with two feet and instantly hop backwards while scratching the ground with the claws of both feet, moving leaves and debris to uncover insects and seeds. The rustling created as they feed in this way can alert you to their presence when they cannot be seen.
Fall migration begins when the young become independent and continues through August, with a few fox sparrows remaining into early September.
Fox sparrow populations vary from short to long-distance migrants. Red fox sparrows from Alaska migrate the furthest and have the largest wing and pectoral girdle bones of all the subspecies. They travel at night to winter mainly in the eastern central and southeastern United States.
Fox sparrows are numerous across their range and are considered a species of low conservation concern. Studies examining the effects of increasing shrubification on various bird species on the Seward Peninsula indicate that fox sparrows are likely to benefit as their preferred habitat becomes more extensive.
If you don’t have a birdfeeder to watch, these foxy sparrows can best be seen singing from song perches atop shrubs in spring. Now, they may be still be glimpsed as flashes of rufous red as they streak between willow thickets. And come May, enjoy their loud and clear whistling tune that carries far over the spring landscape.