The White-throated Sparrow is a species of New World sparrow that breeds across much of Canada and spends the winter across much of the eastern and southeastern United States. There is also a population that winters along the west coast of California.
White-throated Sparrows are little brown birds that are named for a patch of white feathers found under the face. Adults have prominent yellow markings between the eye and the beak.
The White-throated Sparrow has a low, mournful song. One popular mnemonic for the song is "Poor Sam Peabody."
The White-throated Sparrow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Despite the unique and sharp appearance of the White-crowned Sparrow, some people dismiss them as House Sparrows! In fact, many non-birders don't even realize there might be several different species of sparrow found in their own back yard. And don't even get me started on the... Read more »
