White-crowned sparrow

 As summer is beginning to wind down it will not be long before it is September and we begin to see white-crowned sparrows moving through the area again, on their way south. Although there is a small population of white-crowned sparrows living in the western U.S that do not migrate, white crowned here in the middle of the continent breed up in northern Canada near the arctic circle. They winter in the southern two thirds of the U.S. and Mexico. So the only time that we usually see them is during the Spring or Fall when they are migrating. Like most passerines they migrate at night guided by the stars. They spend the day resting and feeding, often with mixed flocks of sparrows, so that they will have the energy to continue to their winter destination.