I am a newbie birder here so I don't know where you are located. I think we get them here in Oklahoma, but not sure if they show up in Oklahoma City gardens (as in mine) or not.

That is one gorgeous little bird. I am just learning, but they are true sparrows, no? While my HOSPs are not (Old World Sparrow? Finch?) Are they smaller than a HOSP? What kind of feeder do you use?

Sorry for all the questions, but my curiosity gets the best of me sometimes.

Susan

White-throated Sparrows are true sparrows, of the large, heavy-bodied, long-tailed Genus Zonotrichia. They winter in Oklahoma but they like to lurk in thick brush and sneak spilled feeder seed from under cover of bushes so can be hard to notice.
House Sparrows are from the Old World sparrow family Passeridae. These aggressive invasives certainly don't hide from people although that would be nice

11-9-09, 1rst fall White-throated Sparrow

I see White-throats every winter here in SE Ma, although they usually stay near brush. Luckily I have lots of brush in my yard and I put feeders near by.

The nyjer spillover is a draw for lots of sparrows, including white-throats.

I've been fussing the last few days over these two birds which I think are probably juvenile White-throated Sparrows, but I'm not quite sure about the second one. The first one has the beginnings of the yellow dot behind the eye.

Neither of these has the strong white stripe on the head, but maybe they're too young, or are of the tan-striped persuasion. Comments or corrections are welcome.

The feeder is right outside my computer window so I can watch them while I'm online.

Claire

I'm in MA, about 20 miles west of Boston. Every morning I put nyjer seed on the deck railing for the Juncos, and they come for that. They also like the homemade suet I put out. They are joined by Song Sparrows, and one lone American Tree Sparrow.

White throats are common here in eastern Mass. This winter, I've got up to 30 Juncoes and between 2-5 White throat sparrows coming to the feeder area. Sometimes 1 lone Song Sparrow and 1 Tree Sparrow. (Why are they all alone I wonder??)

The Juncoes and Sparrows both feed on the ground mostly, but sometimes they will jump on the feeders. The Sparrows usually prefer to stay close to brush or the shrubbery. So I purposely created a couple small loose piles of brush, and put the old Xmas trees or other large trimmings from evergreen trees near the feeding area for them.

In my yard the Song Sparrows always chase other Song Sparrows, so there's either one bird or several widely spaced birds. The last few days I've been watching a mixed group of Juncos, Song Sparrows, one American Tree Sparrow and an occasional White-throat under the nyjer feeder.

Each bird will charge at any other bird that gets too close, but then go back to eating. It's almost a dance with a bird charging forward, the chargee jumping aside and the group reforming. I guess it's a sparrow thing since they're all sparrows. Maybe each species has its own comfort distance.

Interestingly, I've seen American Tree Sparrows feeding happily on the socks right next to the goldfinches.

Claire

That is really interesting Claire. In my yard it is the American Tree Sparrow that bullies all the other birds. The Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows seem to fit right into the group of Juncos.

I wish I have more of the sparrows. In my yard, I have seen what may have been a white throated sparrow, one song sparrow, and one fox sparrow.

I do have a sizable population of tree sparrow that battle it out with gold finches (and one Junco) for space on the sock feeder.

In my yard, the bullies are the large flock of house sparrow, which is why I place the finch feeder away from the other feeder.

Paul