Sooty fox sparrow
species of bird
The sooty fox sparrow (Passerella (iliaca) unalaschcensis) contains the darkest-colored taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" 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 and haplotype data (Zink 1994, Zink & Kessen 1999, Zink & Weckstein 2003). This group appears to be most closely related to the thick-billed and/or slate-colored fox sparrows (Zink 1996, Zink & Weckstein 2003).
Description
The sooty fox sparrow complex varies clinally in intensity of color. The upperparts and head are a variable shade of brown, with streaks on the underparts of the same color. The northernmost birds are a sandy brown, while southernmost birds are a dark coffee-like color. Sooties prefer to breed in willows and alders at the edge of wet habitats. Beadle & Rising (2003) describe their call note as a sharp zitt or thik, while Sibley (2000) says it is a loud smack like that of the red fox sparrow.
Subspecies
Six subspecies are usually recognized in the sooty fox sparrow complex, ranging from unalaschensis in the Aleutians to fuliginosa in extreme northwestern Washington:
unalaschcensis (Gmelin, 1789):
Breeds from Unalaska Island (Aleutian Islands) to the Shumagin and Semidi Islands and adjacent Alaska Peninsula.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of bird. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23056692. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1994, 1999 and 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sooty fox sparrow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.