Image Up Advertising & Design

Bird of the Month The White-throated Sparrow is brown above and gray below with a striking head pattern, a bright white throat, and yellow between the eye and the bill. There is a "tan-striped" form with a buff-on-brown face pattern instead of white-on-black. Males of both forms sing a whistled song that sounds like "Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody." White- throated Sparrows forage on the ground in the leaf litter for seeds and during winter readily visit seed feeders. In summer, they additionally eat insects. White-throated Sparrows breed (summer) in forests across eastern and central Canada and the adjacent northeastern and north-central U.S. They winter across the eastern and south-central U.S. and in small numbers along the U.S. west coast. In winter, they flock with White-crowned and other sparrows in woodlots, weedy fields, backyards and parks. The White-throated Sparrow seen sporadically at my feeder from Nov. 10 to this writing (Dec. 7) is one of only about 15 individuals seen in the past 30 days in all of Southern California (per eBird). The bird will probably stay the winter and because it spends less than 1 percent of its time at my house it spends more than 99 percent of its time elsewhere in Four Seasons, so keep a lookout for this very special bird, especially at feeders. Birding CLUB On Nov. 10 and 11, I had a White-throated Sparrow at my feeder — a regional rarity, a Four Seasons first record, and species #122! The following day was our Nov. 12 bird walk, which yielded a nice variety of winter species and we finished the morning with 23 species. Highlights included a Great Horned Owl, a first-of-season Hermit Thrush, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and an acrobatic/upside- down Nuttall's Woodpecker. Later in the day, Gerrie Karczynski and I spotted two additional species, bringing the day's total to 25. On Nov. 19 we had the first American Pipits of the season and on Dec. 2, the White-throated Sparrow returned to my feeder after being absent since Nov. 11. During our morning bird walk on Dec. 3, the birds were scarce but we managed to finish the morning with 20 species. The highlight was a mixed flock of about 20 Cedar Waxwings and 30 American Robins, all feeding at a red-berry bush on Trail B. Later in the day, Tina Canon, Bill and Genie Cooper, Gerrie Karczynski, Ron Riffel, Barbara Wasco and I spotted nine additional species, bringing the day's total to a respectable 29. ~ Steve Edelman, steve.h.edelman@gmail.com FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2023 39 Above: The Birding Club birding Trail B on Nov. 11. Photo by John Hansen Left: One of the many American Robins seen around Four Seasons this winter. Photo by Gerrie Karczynski during our Nov. 11 bird walk White-throated Sparrow. Photo by Cephas/Wikimedia Commons

• Cover