365 Urban Species. Urban Species #043: White-throated Sparrow

[urbpan]

Photo by cottonmanifesto.
Urban Species #043: White-throated sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

The white-throated sparrow, like the junco, lives in the northern third of North America during the summer, but migrates through and into Boston and points south in the winter. The southernmost part of their summer range is just north and west of Boston, so we may have some year-round presence of these birds. Over the twentieth century their range has spread south, and from high elevations to lower ones. Their most conspicuous habitat requirement is low thick brush. Suburban shrubbery, brush piles, and Phragmites reeds (as pictured above) suit them well. In summer they eat insects, while in winter they survive on the seeds of weeds and other herbaceous plants. Like other seed-eating birds, they are occasional visitors to birdfeeders.

I encounter them while walking along the Riverway; groups of 5 to 10 birds flitting about the reeds. When I stop to watch or photograph them, they freeze for a moment, and then disappear. Early and late in the season I hear them sing. The guides transcribe the rhythm of their mournful song as "Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody."