How to Identify aFox Sparrow
Passerella iliaca · 5.9–7.5 in (15–19 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Rich foxy-red above in eastern birds, with heavy rust-and-gray triangular streaks below converging into a dark central spot. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Cephas / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Kaaren Perry / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- Large and bulky for a sparrow, with a thick bill
- Heavy triangular breast spots merging into a central blotch
- Rusty-red tail and rump, brightest in eastern birds
- Plain face without a strong eyebrow stripe
Similar species
What it sounds like
A rich, whistled song of clear slurred notes, and a sharp "smack" call like two stones tapped together.
Behaviour that gives it away
Feeds by kicking backwards with both feet at once, throwing leaf litter behind it — a loud, distinctive rummaging under feeders.
Habitat & range
Breeds in northern and western thickets; winters in brushy edges, woodland floors and beneath backyard feeders.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Seeds and insects scratched from leaf litter, plus fruit and millet under feeders.
Did you know?
Its regional forms differ so much — from foxy-red in the East to sooty and slate-gray in the West — that they may prove to be more than one species.
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