Chirps and Cheeps

I belong to a very active bird email list that's full of lively conversations from many friendly people in the Western New York area. They report bird sightings, how to make a blue bird house, where to find mealworms, and many other interesting topics .  I've often heard sightings of the White-throated Sparrow.  I went to a few local birding hot spots to see one of these cuties, but to no avail - until a few days ago.

I saw an unfamiliar bird out in the back rummaging around on the ground under the feeder that hangs from our huge pine tree.  I knew it was a sparrow, but until I enlarged the photos on my computer, was I able to identify it as a White-throated Sparrow.  Those distinctive stripes surrounded by yellow on the top of its head made it easy. Cool!  And now, we've got many (well, 4 - 5 at a time!) coming around to all the feeders and poking around in the surrounding shrubbery.

Did you know there are two color forms of White-throated Sparrows: white-crowned and tan-crowned. These sparrows almost always mate the opposite color form - males of both color forms prefer females with white stripes and both kinds of females prefer males with tan-stripes.  Go figure!

The photos below are a few that I've captured over the past few days.  And today, they were everywhere. Their sweet, clear whistles are now very familiar to me and I think I could identity that sound anywhere!  I love this little guy!