Episode 80: Fox Sparrow – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

This rust-red winter visitor likes wet woods and tangled undergrowth, but they won’t turn their beak up at the scattered seeds beneath a bird feeder, where they might scratch energetically with both feet to reveal hidden morsels to eat. Look for the rich gray that underlays the red streaks on their head and listen for their hearty and distinctive alarm call, a “smack.” This is the fox sparrow.

If you do much traveling in the west its worth finding a fox sparrow. They’re variable across their range and were once thought to be four distinct species. The thick-billed fox sparrow can be found in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the sooty subspecies just along the pacific coast, and the slate-colored variant throughout the rest of the west. Lucky for those of us in the Midwest and east, the red subspecies, is the showiest. Here’s the fox sparrow again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW