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The White Crowned Sparrow is a medium sized passerine bird of the New World sparrow family, found visiting the majority of the North American continent throughout the winter months, and up North for breeding. They are also found in parts of the West year round. They are recognized by their streaked black and white foreheads or 'caps', long tails, and bright beaks.
White Crowned Sparrows generally forage on the ground and in low vegetation for seeds, insects, and plant components, but may also catch flying insects in short flight. They are also able to be coaxed to bird feeders as well, though they prefer seed left on the ground.
The White Crowned Sparrow's call is a thin, sweet whistle. Young males generally learn the basics of their song within the first two or three months of life, and do not learn from their parents. Rather, the sparrow will pick up the jist of it through the generalized song of other sparrows in its natal environment, which I found very interesting.
White Crowned Sparrow Call!
Bird of Today: White Crowned Sparrow 10/11/24
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JellieTaffy
Wait so if it's not raised in its natural environment the little dude will just, never learn its song? I always thought it was like, an instinctual birb thing where they just know it from birth or something
That is a very interesting point. From what I have gathered and as far as this specific bird goes, if a white crowned sparrow is not raised in its natural environment (such as in captivity), it must be exposed to recordings of the call within the very short time period in its early life that it has to memorize and perform the call correctly (which is generally two to three months). If it is not, it will develop an abnormal or "Isolate" song, which may impact its ability to attract mates, since it cannot properly develop its species-specific song pattern.
by Morrie; ; Report
That makes me wonder what they would sound like, like what would a sparrow come up with organically to uh... attract chicks? Excuse the bad pun
by JellieTaffy; ; Report
I wonder the same thing! I'm not able to find any examples, but I would assume it would just sound like a mess vaguely reminiscent to a normal call. Abnormally high or low in pitch, unusual rhythm, and general irreconcilability. Nevertheless, attracting the chicks as you say may prove a little more difficult because the performance of its song would be way out of wack.
by Morrie; ; Report