(Due to medical reasons, I have not been able to post for a while and hope you’ll excuse my ‘no visits’ to your blog site. I’m working on trying to get back and will be there soon!)
There are more than 30 different types of Sparrows. Some are easy to identify, and some are so slightly different from another, identifying can be trying.
One that is easy to identify is the White-crowned Sparrow, with his/her bold black-and-white striped head, pale pink or yellow beak, and gray breast.
Except along the West Coast and mountains of the West where they live year-round, White-crowned Sparrows appear each winter across the United States and Mexico, arriving from Alaska and artic Canada around September.
“Fluffing the feathers”
Alaskan White-crowned Sparrows migrate about 2,600 miles to winter in Southern California.
The White-crowned Sparrow usually leaves most of us by March or April, migrating back to Alaska and artic Canada for summer breeding.
A migrating White-crowned Sparrow was once tracked moving 300 miles in a single night. A lot of miles for a little bird!
“Foraging the ground”
White-crowned Sparrows eat mainly seeds of weeds and grasses, and insects. They also eat grains such as oats, wheat, barley, and corn, and fruit including elderberries and blackberries.
