| White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis (Gmelin, 1789)) |
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Scientific name: Zonotrichia albicollis (Gmelin, 1789) Common name: White-throated Sparrow French name: Bruant à gorge blanche Order: Passeriformes Family: Passerellidae Size: Body size: 15 to 19 cm; Weight: 22 to 32 g; Wingspan: 20 to 23 cm. Habitat: Coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests. Food: Mainly insects in summer and seeds and berries in winter. Nesting: The cup-shaped nest is built by the female on the ground or on low branches of a bush. There is a clutch of 4-6 eggs from May. Migration: Populations move to the south of the United States in winter, especially east of the Great Plains. Geographic area: North-central and north-eastern North America to the northern forest limit. |
The White-throated Sparrow has two morphotypes which differ by the colour of the stripes on the head, ochre (dark striped form) or white (white striped form). Reproduction is almost always crossed, a member of one morphotype mates with a member of the other morphotype. The wings are reddish. The chest, the sides of the head and the neck are ashy grey on the white striped form, they are grey brown on the dark striped form. The cap of the white striped form is black and separated in two by a thin white line. There are two broad white eyebrows turning to bright yellow ahead of the eye. The throat is conspicuously white and slightly edged black below. On the dark striped form the eyebrows are slightly brownish and the yellow colour is duller. First-year birds are striped on the flanks and on the underparts. The White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) has no yellow colour ahead of the eye nor any white patch on the throat. |
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The slightly brownish eyebrows being dull yellow ahead of the eyes indicate a White-throated Sparrow of the dark striped form. The striped underparts indicate a first-year bird. |
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Another view of the same bird. |
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I observed this Withe-throated Sparrow near the "Lac aux Américains". This is also a bird of the dark striped form. It really wasn't shy. |
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I will therefore have to return to the "Belle Province" one of these future years to observe a specimen of the white striped form. |
André Bon February 2023