Episode 29: White-Throated Sparrow – Voice of the Wild

White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). 

A big sparrow with unexpected biology and an easy song mnemonic. Look for the yellow spot just ahead of its eye, the namesake white throat, and white or tan stripes over the head. The white-throated sparrow arrives in the fall and is common throughout the winter and into early spring. 

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The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode: 

• White-throated sparrow song by Geoffrey A. Keller (ML509672)
• White-throated sparrow call by Lewis Kibler (ML509692)
• White-throated sparrow second call by Wil Hershberger (ML509694)

Sources and more: 

• https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/  
• https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/white-throated-sparrow   
• Arnold C. 2016. The sparrow with four sexes. Nature. 539(7630):482–484. https://doi.org/10.1038/539482a.
• Beadle D, Rising Jim. 2002. Sparrows of the United States and Canada : the photographic guide. San Diego: Natural World.
• Dobson, Colin et al. Field Guide to Hotspots and Birds in Illinois. Champaign-Urbana: Scissortail LLC, 2023. Print. 
• Godfrey, Michael A, John Farrand, and Roger Tory Peterson. Videoguide to the Birds of North America. New York, N.Y: MasterVision, 1985. Film. 
• Peterson, Roger Tory, and Virginia Marie Peterson. A Field Guide to the Birds: A Completely New Guide to All the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Fourth edition, completely revised and enlarged. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980. Print. 
• Sibley, David. Sibley Birds East: Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. Second edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. Print. 
• Tuttle EM, Bergland AO, Korody ML, et al. 2016. Divergence and Functional Degradation of a Sex Chromosome-like Supergene. Current Biology. 26(3):344–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.069.

What is Voice of the Wild?

If you learn to listen for them, you will find wildlife everywhere. Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. Tune in every Friday to learn a new bird song, frog call, or insect noise.

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

Most people remember this bird because of a very particular mnemonic. It goes like this: “Oh, Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada.” That song is given from brush piles in forest clearings, brush piles in messy fields, even brush piles in your yard, especially if there’s a bird a feeder to scratch beneath. It can also be found in thickets and dense shrubs but brush piles are a pretty good bet. While most sparrows are notoriously difficult to identify by sight, this is one of the few that isn’t. It has a distinctive yellow spot just ahead of its eye, either white or tan stripes on the head, and its namesake white throat.

This is the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) from the family of new-world sparrows, Passerellidae. Some birds have a single color form, while others have two. When a species has two color forms, those forms are usually tied to biological sex; with one sex taking the brighter of the two options. The white-throated sparrow is a fascinating deviation from this norm. LIke those other birds, It has two color forms: one is drab; it has tan headstripes and the other is bright; it has white headstripes. But unlike the other birds, both sexes of white-throated sparrow have both color forms. What’s more is that one color form nearly always mates with the opposite color form, so the White throated sparrow effectively has four sexes: bright males, dull males, bright females, and dull females. Luckily they all sing about the same song (though bright-colored birds, whether male or female, do most of the singing.) Here it is again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new wild voice with Illinois Extension.