Species Specifics: White-throated Sparrow

In mid-October when I hear the beautiful song— “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” —signaling the return of the white-throated sparrow, I know winter is just around the corner!

This 6½" sparrow, named for its distinctive white throat, has a white and black crown, streaky brown back and gray breast. Although females may be somewhat duller, both sexes also have a yellow patch in front of the eye.

White-throated sparrows winter in our area and are often found foraging on the ground under feeders with another winter visitor—the dark-eyed junco. Each winter I mix cracked corn and millet together and sprinkle it on the ground under my feeders for both the sparrows and the juncos. White-throats also eat fruit and insects when available.

In late April the white-throated sparrows return to their breeding grounds in Canada. A cup-like nest of grasses lined with hair and rootlets is built at the base of a tree in an open area. The female incubates 4-6 pale greenish-blue eggs with dark markings for about 2 weeks. Since they are ground nesters the young sparrows leave the nest quite early—in 7-12 days; the fledglings are fed for another 3-4 weeks by both parents.

In the fall, white-throated sparrows gather in medium-sized flocks and migrate at night, with feeding stop-overs along the way, to their wintering grounds in the United States.