{"id":2191,"date":"2022-01-11T17:16:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T17:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/?p=2191"},"modified":"2022-01-11T17:16:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T17:16:16","slug":"knowing-the-white-throated-sparrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/?p=2191","title":{"rendered":"Knowing the White-throated Sparrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Edie Parnum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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White-throated Sparrow on northern breeding grounds. Photo \u00a9 Gerald Dewaghe<\/em>.\u00a0 Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

White-throated sparrows come to my feeding station every day during the cold months.\u00a0 Easily recognized, these crisply-plumaged brown sparrows sport a white throat, white stripes on the head, and a bright spot of yellow at the base of the bill. A tan-striped form has somewhat less bold plumage. I notice they prefer to eat the seeds on the ground beneath the feeders. Their feeding style is entertaining. They jump forward with both feet and then scratch back to uncover the seeds. Using their strong bills, they quickly crack the shell and consume the nutritious morsel. Over and over, they jump, scratch, and grab a seed. \u00a0Then, there\u2019s a quick lift of the head to check for predators.<\/p>\n

Around my yard, I glimpse them in the brushy areas. I\u2019ve left the perennials standing over the winter and allowed leaves to remain on the ground. This is their preferred habitat where they find plenty of seeds and insect eggs, larvae, and cocoons. Flocked together and mostly hidden in the dense vegetation, I hear their soft chips as they keep in contact and a metallic chink sound if alarmed. \u00a0Occasionally they sing their sweet song, \u201cOle Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody\u201d. Mostly, they keep quiet, but alert, to avoid detection by hawks, neighborhood cats, and other predators. I think I know this bird well.<\/p>\n

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Tan-striped form of White-throated Sparrow feeding in leaf litter.\u00a0 Photo \u00a9 Barb Elliot.\u00a0 <\/em>Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Admittedly, I see only a small portion of its life. The White-throated Sparrow isn\u2019t a year-round resident here in southeastern Pennsylvania. With breeding grounds in the northern forests. I\u2019ve never seen one establish its territory, build a nest, incubate eggs, or feed caterpillars to its young. I\u2019ve missed seeing its life challenges, too. \u00a0\u00a0At some point, it probably survived an encounter with a deadly predator or narrowly avoided a disastrous crash into a window.\u00a0 Perhaps one spring it returned to its usual breeding location in the boreal forest and discovered it had been logged\u2014destroyed to make toilet paper. I\u2019ve probably missed all its major life events.<\/p>\n

My feeders don\u2019t provide everything these birds need. Opportunities to observe what this bird requires to survive are limited. The unseen beneficence of nature provides the food, shelter, water, and places to raise its young for this creature and all living creatures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Edie Parnum White-throated sparrows come to my feeding station every day during the cold months.\u00a0 Easily recognized, these crisply-plumaged brown sparrows sport a white throat, white stripes on the head, and a bright spot of yellow at the base … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[25,27,64,8,41,161,9,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2191"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2204,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions\/2204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}