Fox Sparrow

Passerella iliaca
STANFORD LOCATIONS:
Uncommon migrant and winter resident in dense patches of brushy vegetation, sparsely on most of main campus but more common in woodland and scrub habitats near the Dish and around faculty housing.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 12-14 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
SHRUB
0 feet - 3 feet
(To 20 feet)
F?
2-5
MONOG ?
F: 9-11 DAYS
MF
SEEDS
BERRIES
BREEDING: Coniferous or deciduous forest undergrowth, edge, woodland thickets, scrub, chaparral, riparian woodland, montane brushland. 2 broods.
DISPLAYS: ?
NEST: Rarely in tree. Built of grass, moss, lichen, rootlets, shredded bark, leaves, and, if above ground, twigs; lined with fine grass, rootlets, fur, feathers, and finely shredded bark. Earlier nests higher, perhaps due to presence of snow and snow-melt.
EGGS: Pale green to greenish-white, marked with reddish-browns. 0.9" (23 mm).
DIET: Includes few spiders, millipedes, buds. Nestlings likely fed 100% insects.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to n Baja. Uncommon cowbird host.
NOTES: Males on breeding territory occ pugnacious toward other species. Female broods. Adult known to give broken-wing display in defense of young fledglings. Average clutch in n is 4-5, in s 2-3. Male sings each song once until entire repertoire is sung, then starts over.
ESSAYS: Vocal Functions; Interspecific Territoriality; Bills; Variation in Clutch Sizes; Distraction Displays.
REFERENCES: Martin, 1979; Threlfall and Blacquiere, 1982; Zink, 1986.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).