Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Zonotrichia albicollis (White-throated Sparrow)

White-throated Sparrow
 The white-throated sparrow is a new world (Emberizine) sparrow that is named for the white throat patch below it's beak. They breed in the eastern three quarters of Canada as well as in parts of north central and north eastern United States. They spend the winter in the eastern half of the U.S. or along the California coast. Their primary habitat is forests with thick undergrowth but they can also be found in bogs, fields, parks and yards, particularly during the winter.
White-throated Sparrow
There are two different color variations of white-throated sparrow. There is the white crowned, an example of which is the first picture, and the tan-crowned, pictured above. The males of both varieties prefer white-crowned females, however the females all prefer the tan-crowned males. It appears that the white crowned birds are more aggressive then the tan crowned. So the guys are looking for an aggressive women while the females are looking for a laid back dude. You can see in the picture above that white-crowned sparrows eat a variety of fruits and berries. They also eat a lot of the seeds from different grasses as well as insects that they find while foraging on the ground.


8 comments:

MaR said...

Fantastic pictures, what a beautiful little one!

Z is for...

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Hi. fantastic looking little bird and great shots.

Roger Owen Green said...

Thank goodness for those Latin names!
ROG, ABC Wednesday

sunshine said...

Interesting species and beautiful photos.

Gordon said...

Great clear shot of a new bird to me.
All the best Gordon.

Kenneth Cole Schneider said...

After nine years in south Florida, I have seen only one White-throated Sparrow. Neat bird!

Sonja said...

Well captured.

Dave said...

First image is superb, lovely shot