Zonotrichia albicollis
“White-striped” adult
The White-throated Sparrow is a distinctive woodland songbird. The sexes are similar but two color forms occur. All adults have a dark-streaked brown back and reddish-brown wings with two white wingbars. The tail is gray-brown. In typical “White-striped” birds the head has a dark crown with a pale central stripe, and a broad supercilium that is yellow-buff in front of the eye but white behind. In “Tan-striped” birds the supercilium is uniformly yellow-buff, and the central crown stripe is buffish gray. All birds have a black eye stripe, gray cheeks, a white throat, a gray breast, and otherwise whitish underparts. Juveniles recall a heavily streaked adult with indistinct head markings; by their first winter they recall a dull “Tan-striped” adult.
The White-throated Sparrow is present as a breeding species in northern forests mainly from April to August. Birds migrate south in fall, and the winter range is mainly southeast U.S.A. and also down the Pacific coast. Small numbers can be found year-round in the northeast. The species forms flocks outside the breeding season and visits feeders in winter.
“Tan-striped” adult
FACT FILE
LENGTH 6.75 in (17 cm)
FOOD Mainly seeds, with invertebrates in spring and summer
HABITAT Northern forests in summer; dense woodland and scrub in winter
STATUS Widespread and common, both in summer and winter
VOICE Song is a piercing, whistling see-tsee-chrrdede-chrrdede. Call is a sharp chink
