FOX SPARROW (RED), SERENA GUNDY PARK, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 5/14/2025 - NEW LIFE SPECIES

   We can ID this sparrow as a Fox Sparrow of the Red subspecies (the only subspecies found in eastern U.S. and Canada, but that breeds in Alaska and boreal forests of Canada) as follows:

• The underparts are white with dark streaks on its flanks and small dark chevrons across the belly.
• The upperparts are mostly rufous with some gray and two whitish wing bars.
• Long, rufous tail.
• Orange-yellow lower mandible of bill with dark tip and dark upper mandible.
• Auriculars are mostltly rufous with some brown set against gray face.
• Crown is rufous with a gray center streak.
• Dark eye with white eyering and dark eyeline.

   This Fox Sparrow is probably migrating from the boreal forests of Northern Canada to southern U.S. or Northern Mexico.  They generally migrate south in late fall, typically in November.  The Fox Sparrow generally migrates at night.

   The Fox Sparrow is a new species to our ebird Photographic Life List, which now stands at 1,189.