For a few weeks in late March and early April . . . one of my favorite birds . . . the Fox Sparrow migrates through Maine.  Often seen at feeder or scratching aside leaves to get to grubs and insects, the Fox Sparrow is larger and stockier than other sparrows.

• In Maine, we see a beautiful red and gray Fox Sparrow.
• In the interior west, the Fox Sparrow is more slate color.
• The birds found further west are a sooty brown.
• California Fox Sparrows are slate colored, with a noticeably bigger bill and a whiter chested as opposed to the heavy streaking found in the other sub-species.

Anyway,  by mid-April Fox Sparrows have moved through Maine to their summer nesting grounds in Canada and we won’t see them again until October when they transit through to their wintering grounds in the American South.

Ingrid and I had been hearing reports of Fox Sparrows over the last few weeks but haven’t seen any until this morning when I was cleaning out the dishwasher and noticed this one scratching in the the leaves.

Love this bird.