White Throated Sparrow: Winter and Spring

You may know that birds, especially male birds, have two kinds of plumage: breeding and non-breeding. The most obvious example in our yards is the American Goldfinch male which sports olive drab plumage in the winter and lemony yellow plumage in spring and summer. This change to the brighter breeding plumage occurs with molting when the bird sheds his winter feathers and new brighter feathers grow in place. During this transition the bird can look really mangy.

The same is true for one of our winter birds, the White Throated Sparrow. This bird with distinctive yellow dots above the beak spends winter in our area and then migrates northward to breed. By the end of May most of these birds have left our area. But before they migrate, the males transform into their breeding plumage so by the time they reach the breeding/nesting areas they are ready to attract a mate.

Here is the White Throated Sparrow on our deck in January during the big snowfall:

He looks cold and miserable and his feathers aren't too dazzling.

Here is a White Throated Sparrow at our thistle seed feeder on April 13th:

You can really see the feathers on his head are brighter and more defined.  And his white throat is much whiter.
So nice that this northern breeding sparrow let us see his fancy feathers before taking his leave!