We had yet another visitor to our yard last week – a White-crowned Sparrow. It was a rare treat.
We have two year-round sparrow residents in our yard – the House Sparrow and the Song Sparrow. Occasionally, we’ll see a Chipping Sparrow and there are some White-throated Sparrows around, but you don’t see many of the White-crowned Sparrows in Virginia, or at least I haven’t.
Nancy spotted it outside on the patio. The white on its crown was dazzling, a pure white, making it easy to identify.
According to the Audubon Society, these are large, long-tailed sparrows with striking head patterns. Adults have black and white stripes on the head, while immatures show brown and tan. Underparts are plain grayish without streaks. Bill color varies from yellow to pink, but always brighter than White-throated Sparrow. The birds breed in brushy areas or thickets in open forest, often with conifers. In migration and winter, can be found in any brushy or weedy areas, often hopping on the ground.
I understand that these sparrows winter in much of the United States, but head for Canada and the tundra areas in summer to breed.
They are quite the travelers, able to fly as many as 300 miles in a single day. They are also able to stay awake and alert for long periods of time. During their long and arduous migration to the tundras, they have been known to stay awake as long as two weeks at a time. This effect has been studied for possible human applications, such as shift-work drowsiness or driving a truck. But I don’t think White-crowned Sparrows would be very good truck drivers. They are too short to see over the steering wheel.
I suppose our overnight guest was just travelling through, headed north and saw lots of bird activity in our yard and decided to stop by and pay us a visit. They say that birds attract other birds and we have lots of birds.
This is the fourth sort-of unusual bird we’ve seen this month. It never fails to excite me to see one of these strangers.
