![]() ![]() In 1983, a Fox Sparrow nest was finally discovered in far northwestern Maine, a stone’s throw from the Canadian border.Īfter that, the floodgates seem to have opened. A few years later, scientists working on a study of how efforts to control spruce-budworm outbreaks in Maine affected bird populations found a Fox Sparrow that they suspected was nesting (thanks to Jeff Cherry, the field leader for this study, you can see the eBird checklist for this record here). The story goes something like this:īeginning in the early 1980s, birders in southern Quebec-well south of the known range of the species-began noticing Fox Sparrows during the summer. These questions led to a two-year long effort to piece together its current breeding range, which I’ve written about in a paper submitted for publication at the scientific journal PeerJ. So what were these birds that I’d found singing in the middle of June doing? Why was a species that supposedly only migrates through the region present during the breeding season and apparently defending territories? As expected, Palmer describes Fox Sparrow as a “transient,” a passage migrant that moves through the state early in spring and again late in the fall but most certainly not a breeding species. When I returned to camp that evening, I pulled off the shelf a copy of Ralph Palmer’s Maine Birds, now almost 80 years old but still the definitive reference on the birdlife of Maine. As this seemed quite late for birds supposedly migrating through the region, I was intrigued. However, several summers ago, while working in western Maine, I encountered several singing males in mid-June. The eastern subspecies of Fox Sparrow-the Red Fox Sparrow ( Passerella iliaca iliaca)-has traditionally been considered a passage migrant through New England, stopping off briefly in late fall and early spring as it travels to and from its breeding grounds in eastern Canada. Most field guides and general references depict Fox Sparrows as a bird that nests only in the boreal forest of Canada and Alaska and the high mountains of western North America. Sometimes they even sing during their brief spring stop-over, a beautiful set of downward, slurred whistles. Large and brightly colored, at least by sparrow standards, they are a harbinger of the changing seasons and a delight to watch during their brief stay. ![]() Late each fall, and then again early in spring, Fox Sparrows visit my backyard. Red Fox Sparrow ( Passerella iliaca iliaca). ![]()
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