Another in my series of Heard But Not Seen (and another winter visitor), the distinctive “Ohhh Sweet Canada Canada Canada” song of the White-Throated Sparrow greeted me and Happy on our morning outing. I love these little guys for their cheery song and jauntily striped heads. Check the yellow markings and the white beard on his throat. Charming! UPDATE: This photo is of an actual White-throated Sparrow in Lincoln Green on a rainy January day.
We had a regular White-Throated Sparrow visit our feeder in Brooklyn that we called “Speedy.” I also saw tons of them at lunchtime in Bryant Park busily snapping up stray breadcrumbs from everyone’s fancy sandwiches.
Oddly enough…
There are two color forms of this sparrow, a white-crowned and a tan-crowned. They’ll almost always breed with a bird of the opposite morph, but females of both types prefer the white-striped males, which are more aggressive than the tan variety.
White-Throated Sparrows occasionally interbreed with Dark-Eyed Juncos. Their offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-Throated Sparrows with white tail feathers.
Learn more about the White-Throated Sparrow and hear the song I heard this morning at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
