Red Fox Sparrow
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 Red Fox Sparrow, probably P. i. iliaca
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Not evaluated (NE)
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| Passerella iliaca iliaca group (Merrem, 1786) |
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 Breeding ranges of the four Fox Sparrow groups
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The Red Fox Sparrow (Passerella (iliaca) iliaca} contains the most brightly colored taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group"[1] within the Fox Sparrow pending wider-spread acceptance of species status. It has long been suspected to be a separate evolutionary lineage due to morphological distinctness (Swarth 1920), and this is confirmed by analysis of mtDNA sequence data (Zink 1994, Zink & Kessen, 1999). This group appears to be most closely related to the Slate-colored Fox Sparrows (Zink & Weckstein 2003).
Some diagnostic plumage characteristics include a gray eye-line, chestnut ear-coverts, reddish breast streaks, a gray rump, and bright rufous tail. 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".
Geographic variation in the iliaca complex is minor compared to individual variation, oth in morphology and molecular data samples (Zink 1994). The western Yukon Fox Sparrow differs from the nominate subspecies, the Eastern Fox Sparrow, only in having a grayer head and browner malar stripe on average. The morphological distinction between the subspecies is not pronounced and the birds are not resident; therefore absolutely certain identification within the Red Fox Sparrow complex is never possible in the field (Beadle & Rising 2003)[verification needed].
However, the populations occupy different ranges with a small band of overlap only. The contact zone is roughly the area between the Nelson and lower Churchill Rivers, Manitoba, in summer. In winter, the Mississippi River and the US states of Alabama and Georgia mark the approximate boundary between the subspecies' ranges. P. i. iliaca occurs from S Wisconsin and Ontario east to Massachusetts and then along the coast north to southern Canada; it ranges south to the Gulf of Mexico and N Florida, whereas P. i. zaboria occurs from SE Minnesota to the Great Plains, south to Texas and east to the zone of overlap mentoned above.(Weckstein et al 2002)
[edit] References
- Beadle, David & Rising, Jim D. (2003): Sparrows of the United States and Canada : the photographic guide. Princeton University Press, Princeton. ISBN 0691117470
- Sibley, David Allen (2000): The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 0-679-45122-6
- Swarth H. W. (1920): Revision of the avian genus Passerella with special reference to the distribution and migration of the races in California. University of California Publications in Zoology 21: 75–224.
- Weckstein, J. D.; Kroodsma, D. E. & Faucett, R. C. (2002): Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). In: Poole, A. & Gill, F. (eds.): The Birds of North America 715. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA & American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. Online version, retrieved 2006-11-27. DOI:10.2173/bna.715 (requires subscription)
- Zink, R. M. (1994): The Geography of Mitochondrial DNA Variation, Population Structure, hybridization, and Species Limits in the Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). Evolution 48(1): 96-111. DOI:10.2307/2410006 (HTML abstract, first page image)
- Zink, Robert M. & Kessen, A. E. (1999): Species Limits in the Fox Sparrow. Birding 31: 508-517.
- Zink, Robert M. & Weckstein, Jason D. (2003): Recent evolutionary history of the Fox Sparrows (Genus: Passerella). Auk 120(2): 522–527. [Article in English with Spanish abstract] DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0522:REHOTF]2.0.CO;2 HTML fulltext (without images)
