 Sooties prefer to breed in willows and alders at the edge of wet habitats.Beadle & Rising (2003) describe their call note as a sharp "zitt" or "thik", while Sibley (2000) says it is a loud smack like that of red fox sparrow.Six subspecies are usually recognized in the sooty fox sparrow complex, ranging from "unalaschensis" in the Aleutians to "fuliginosa" in extreme northwestern Washington