Fifty Birds of Town and City
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
From tail-tip to beak, this perky flyer is 7 inches long and looks like the
white-throated sparrow, but the latter has a yellow spot beside its eyes.
White-crown breeds in the high country of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the
Pacific coast; it winters in the southern half of the United States and in northern
Mexico.
This beautiful white-crowned sparrow is numerous in the West, but rather rare elsewhere, so
watch for it carefully if you're in the East, for it is shy and retiring there. But
the white-crown sparrow is bolder and more conspicuous in the Far West, often frequenting gardens,
parks, and yards. Like most sparrows, it is a seed eater by preference--it appears
readily at sheltered feeding stations. Insects comprise less than 10 percent of its
diet.
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