The White-throated Sparrow is a large sparrow with a prominent bill, rounded head, long legs and long tail. Besides the notable white bib, the "White-throat" is brown above and white below. It has a black eye stripe (a "supercillium"), yellow lores on the head, and a white throat bordered by a black whisker, or malar stripe. (A "lore" is the area of the bird's face from the base of the bill to the front of the eyes.)
White-throats stay near the ground, scratching through leaves looking for food. They often gather in flocks. You may see them low in bushes as well as eating fresh buds in spring.
White-throated Sparrows mainly eat seeds of grasses and weeds, including ragweed and buckwheat, as well as fruits of sumac, grape, cranberry, mountain ash, rose, blueberry, blackberry and dogwood. During summer in Canada, they also eat large quantities of insects.
Now that they've arrived in the Lehigh Valley region, you may see them in your backyard feeding on millet and black oil sunflower seeds.
During breeding season, the female usually nests on the ground. She selects a depression amid dense vegetation and adds moss. She then builds the sides of the nest with grass, twigs, wood chips and pine needles. The nest is hidden from above by leaves.
But White-throated Sparrows sometimes may build nests of up to 15 feet in conifers. These nests usually are second attempts after a ground nest was robbed by a predator.
The female lays one or two broods. Eggs are very pale blue or greenish blue and speckled.
White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos are both members of the sparrow family. Occasionally the two may mate. They produce a hybrid looking like a grayish, dully marked White-throat with white outer tail feathers.
The White-throat's call is a distinctive wavering whistle of Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada. On a cold winter's day, listen for their song. You just may feel a little warmer.
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