Profile
In flight
Songbirds
White-throated Sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
- epic
- 72 km/h
- Least Concern
Whistles "Oh, sweet Canada, Canada, Canada" through the dawn. Patriotism not required.
- Population
- ~160 million breeding individuals (Partners in Flight estimate); declining, roughly 33% cumulative decline 1966-2019 per North American Breeding Bird Survey (steeper ~69% decline within the US alone over the same period)
- Habitat
- Breeds in coniferous and deciduous forest up to treeline, especially around openings/edges with dense low vegetation and brushy second growth; winters in woodland edges, hedgerows, thickets, weedy fields, suburbs, backyards, and city parks
- Fun fact
- White-throated Sparrows come in two genetically fixed color morphs — white-striped and tan-striped — and individuals almost always pair with the opposite morph, a rare four-way mating/behavioral polymorphism tied to a chromosomal inversion; white-striped birds are more aggressive during breeding season, linked to elevated estrogen-receptor expression.
- Range
- Breeds across boreal and northern mixed forest of Canada and the northeastern/north-central United States (New England, upper Great Lakes); winters through the eastern and southern United States south to northeastern Mexico and the Gulf Coast, remains year-round in Atlantic Canada in some areas, and is a scarce but regular vagrant further west (occasionally reaching western Europe)
- Diet
- Omnivorous ground forager: seeds of grasses and weeds (ragweed, buckwheat, millet, black oil sunflower), berries (blackberries, grapes, rose hips), and buds in fall/winter; shifts to insects (dragonflies, beetles, caterpillars) and other invertebrates during breeding season, especially for feeding nestlings
- Size
- 0.17 m
- Wingspan
- 0.23 m
- Lifespan
- 14 years
