Distinguishing Characteristics

Breeding adult White-throated Sparrow, white-striped morph, Tompkins Co., NY, April.

Breeding adult White-throated Sparrow, tan-striped morph, Tompkins Co., NY, May.

White-throated Sparrows displaying orange lores. November, Pennsylvania

Adult White-throated Sparrow, tan-striped morph, Pottawattamie Co., IA, April.

Description

Small songbird (length 16–18 cm; mass 22–32 g, varies with season; females slightly smaller and lighter than males); typical sparrow with short conical bill and longish notched tail. Sexes similar in plumage, which varies (see Appearance).

Median crown stripe is bright white, pale tan, or gray; eyebrow stripe yellow to (rarely) orange in front of eye, and white, pale tan, or gray behind; lateral crown stripes dark brown to black. White to dull white throat patch edged with black, often with two black malar lines from bottom of throat patch to lower mandible. Breast and lower throat gray, often streaked with brown, especially in juveniles. Flanks light brown and streaked; belly white. Back chestnut streaked with black, feathers edged with beige. Wing feathers brown edged with buff; two narrow white wing-bars. Bill horn colored; iris brown; legs pale brown.

Dimorphic in spring and summer: white-striped (WS) birds with sharply contrasting black and white crown stripes and usually uniformly gray breasts, tan-striped (TS) birds with less contrasting dull black and pale brown or tan-colored crown stripes, breast often streaked with brown. Plumage variation, clearly dimorphic in summer, is continuous in fall and winter (Atkinson and Ralph 1980). Juveniles are brown above with obscure black streaking, buffy and streaked below. Median crown stripe and superciliary line are buffy white or darker, less obvious than in adults. A partial preformative molt occurs from late July to early September, after which most immatures resemble the basic plumage of TS adults. See Appearance for details.

Identification

Large, dark rufous sparrow with boldly patterned head and white throat. Adult distinctive and easily identified; note white throat contrasting strongly with grayish breast unlike any other sparrow in the genus Zonotrichia, and often bold crown stripes with prominent yellow lores. Tan-striped adults and fall immatures can be similar to immature White-crowned (Z. leucophrys) and Golden-crowned Sparrows (Z. atricapilla), but note White-throated's blackish brown crown stripes (not rufous-toned) and contrasting white throat unlike either of those species. White-throated has a dark grayish bill, unlike the pink, orange or yellow bill of White-crowned. Immature Golden-crowned Sparrow also distinguished by having some yellow in fore-crown. Immature White-throated distinguished from superficially similar and larger Harris’s Sparrow (Z. querula) by dark bill, and striped crown; also note Harris's mostly white underparts.