White throated sparrow5/22/2023 ![]() White-throated sparrows, like many bird species, learn their songs from older tutors – typically their fathers. Perhaps they’re just showing off, but maybe they’re practicing. ![]() This non-resident status should mean that there’s no territory to defend and, therefore, not much reason to sing.īut sing it did, as do many white-striped morphs wintering here. Not necessarily odd behavior, until you stop to consider that, in our area, White throateds are migrants, not residents. It was a white-striped morph, and it was singing. The bird we saw at Hickory Knolls seemed to fit this profile. By contrast, tan-striped males are quieter and more helpful around the nest, sometimes to the point of becoming Mr. The males especially are more aggressive, more vocal, less apt to help with raising young and more likely to be promiscuous. That is, a white-striped bird will be seen with a tan-striped mate, and vice versa.įurther, research has shown that white-striped birds tend to be more dominant. What makes things even more interesting is that the two morphs seem to seek out birds of the other plumage. That’s right- two color morphs, one species. In a pattern reminiscent of a University of Michigan football helmet, the white-throated sparrow has either black and white or brown and tan stripes. The breast below is a streaky or smudgy gray on both sides of the bird’s face, in the spaces between the bill and eyes called the lores, two bright yellow patches serve as other distinguishing field marks.īut what has always caught my eye is the white-throated sparrow’s striped head. But, unlike the Lincoln’s sparrow, which looks nothing like Lincoln, or the Henslow’s sparrow, which bears little resemblance to John Stevens Henslow, the 19th-century botanist, the white throated has a name that describes it perfectly.Ī bright white patch surrounds the bird’s throat like an ascot and is bordered along the top by a black line, or “whisker,” on either side. White-throated sparrows are members of the Emberizine sparrow family, a mostly brown, similar-looking group that can sometimes give amateur birders like me fits. A few flockmates, a mixed group that included other white-throated sparrows and some juncos, scratched at the leaf litter below. A handsome specimen, it was perched toward the end of a low, leafless branch. The clear, whistled notes hit my ears as we walked through a partially restored woodland and it wasn’t long before I saw the source. It came to mind recently during a walk at the Hickory Knolls Natural Area in St. But since “Poor Sam…” was the first one I learned and it’s the one I still rely on today. The others – Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody O Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada and Where Are You Frederick, Frederick, Frederick – work well too. He, or it, is one of a few mnemonic devices that has been applied to the song of the white-throated sparrow. Used this way, the words become mnemonics – gimmicks that help us recall or memorize things more easily.Īnd that’s where Sam Peabody comes in. But because people and birds don’t speak the same language, we humans have found it helpful to associate words with the songs the birds sing. This guy is The Man, at least as far as talk among the white-throated sparrows is concerned.īird vocalizations are often as important as plumage when it comes to identifying species. Peabody and have no idea of what events may have led to his present condition of “poor” (or, according to some, “old”) but one thing’s for sure.
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