This Fox Sparrow is a member of the unalaschcensis group sometimes split as a separate species, the "Sooty Fox Sparrow." Fox Sparrows usually forage on the ground, scratching with both feet like a towhee. This race breeds in Prince William Sound, Kenai Peninsula and on Middleton Island. Its bill is thinner, plumage redder, and it has larger and heavier breast-spotting than unalaschcensis (Aleutians). It is overall darker than insularis (Kodiak) but brighter than annectens and townsendi (SE Alaska). The various races leapfrog over each other in migration. This race has one of the longer migration routes, wintering in Central and Southern California.