Skip to main content

Beak of the Week - White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Family: Passerellidae

The White-crowned Sparrow is a light gray sparrow with a brown back and wings, a long tail, orange, conical bill, and black and white striped cap on the head, making them look a little like badgers.

White-crowned Sparrows are very selective about the species they allow into their territories. They will chase away Dark-eyed Juncos and Chipping Sparrows, but do not mind sharing space with Fox Sparrows. White-crowned Sparrows are more aggressive toward other species than they are to other White-crowned Sparrows. In northern populations, male White-crowned Sparrows arrive first to the breeding grounds, and begin to sing in order to defend their territories from one another. When females arrive, they may defend their territories by singing as well. However, their songs are softer and more dynamic than the songs of the males. Different populations of White-crowned Sparrows form distinct song dialects because male White-throated Sparrows learn to sing from all of the songs of nearby White-crowned Sparrows. 


While female White-crowned Sparrows are the sole nest builders, both parents help to feed their young. Males will take care of the young while the females begin their second broods. Parents almost exclusively feed their young insects. Adults themselves consume insects, seeds, grains, and fruits. White-crowned Sparrows and Eastern Towhees engage in similar foraging behaviors. They turn over leaves by jumping backwards, and then hop forward again to grab the food item. 

This species breeds in open shrubby areas, and winters in areas with fields, roadsides, and dense vegetation. White-crowned Sparrows winter throughout most of the United States including the upper Texas coast.

✏️ By Sarah Lefoley, Conservation Technician, Houston Audubon
📸 Photos by Greg Lavaty
---
Visit our Bird Gallery to read about other Texas birds!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to DIY a Dripper for birds

Are you running out of home projects to keep busy during the quarantine? Here’s one my hubby made for me that you can try: a DYI Dripper. I’ve long wanted a bird dripper to complement my yard’s wildlife habitat, and with spring migrants on the way, I was keen to provide a drip that will attract new birds that don’t visit feeders. I had a problem though. There is no water line or power source near my feeders. The idea of stringing a hose or wire across the driveway just isn’t practical. Enter the engineer. My husband thought about the location and the limitations for a bit, and came up with the concept of sourcing water for a dripper off the sprinkler system. By using a toilet tank that fills every time the sprinklers run, water can be constantly available for the drip. I nixed the idea of a toilet tank sitting in my yard though, so he made some aesthetic modifications by installing a toilet tank float inside a 5 gallon bucket hidden inside a custom wooden box with a handsome copper p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beak of the Week - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris ) Family: Trochilidae Did you know that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are able to fly in all 6 directions with wing beats of 53 times per a second? Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are bright emerald or golden-green on the back and crown with gray-white underparts. Males have a brilliant iridescent red throat while females and immatures have fine, dark throat streaking. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of red or orange tubular flowers as well as at hummingbird feeders and sometimes tree sap. Hummingbirds also catch insects in midair or pull them out of spider webs. In preparation for their migration, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds double their weight from 3 grams to over 6 grams prior to departing. In the fall, millions of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will pass through Texas on their migration to points south of the border with many crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight. They arrive from breeding grounds as far away as Nova Scotia...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Purple Martin Spectacle

July on the upper Texas Coast is hot – too hot for many of us to enjoy getting out and birding. However, the early mornings and early evenings can be bearable, and provide an opportunity to see some of the birds that will soon be leaving us. Fortunately, we have our resident birds to enjoy and, come fall, our wintering birds will begin arriving. But that means the birds we consider our "summer birds" will soon be departing and will not return until next spring. A few of these include the Chimney Swift, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Common Nighthawk, Barn Swallow, Mississippi Kite, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and many others. One of our iconic summer birds is the Purple Martin , our largest swallow, and the only swallow we have that is all dark. While it is called a Purple Martin, this bird is more of a blue-black with some purplish sheen when the sunlight hits the feathers at a certain angle. Many birders anticipate the early arrival of “scouts,” a term used for the arrival o...
Post a Comment
Read more