These big, medium-brown sparrows with variable grayish faces and heavily streaked or blotch undersides can be found in summer at higher elevations across much of the state except the Coast Range.

Darker brown birds from more northerly breeding populations are common in western Oregon in winter, often coming to feeders, where they scratch like towhees for seed on the ground.

Hear the song of the Fox sparrow

Photo by Robin Horn, Flickr