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."

Comments

[artemii.livejournal.com]

i love white-throated sparrows. they will often eat seed off the ground if you leave it near cover (and almost invariably after a storm like the one we've just had). they also are the perfect birds to target with a winter-seedhead garden.

[ankhanu.livejournal.com]

They are exceedingly common here; their song fills the summer months.

They respond quite readily to making a "psshhhht" sound; they'll almost always come and investigate it, making watching and photgraphing easy.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

This one was hanging out with a bunch of twitchy house sparrows. It was impossible to get closer than 10 feet.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try pishing them some time when I'm not attached to two pit bulls ;D

[ankhanu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, dogs are a bit of a liability when trying that :)