Here is another beautiful bird that we often see around our feeders through the winter and I bet you know its call! It’s the one that you hear, even on the chilliest of days, calling out “Oh sweet Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.” (or something like that)
You can listen to a clip of the call here. I bet you’ll recognize it.
While White-throated sparrows winter in the eastern and southern US, they depart around March and head up to Canada for breeding.
If you want to enjoy watching them through the winter, just be sure to put out millet and sunflower seeds on the ground or at a platform feeder. They like woody forest edges and brushy areas to take cover in during harsh weather and for roosting at night.
You’ll notice that some White-throated sparrows have very white caps while others are tanner.
Here’s a cool fact from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
The White-throated Sparrow comes in two color forms: white-crowned and tan-crowned. The two forms are genetically determined, and they persist because individuals almost always mate with a bird of the opposite morph. Males of both color types prefer females with white stripes, but both kinds of females prefer tan-striped males. White-striped birds are more aggressive than tan-striped ones, and white-striped females may be able to outcompete their tan-striped sisters for tan-striped males.