White-throated sparrows returning to Massachusetts yards in fall

Why this time of year

Migrant flocks move through the state from mid-September to early November, so the first scratchy arrivals under the shrubs are a calendar you can hear from the porch.

How to notice it

1. Watch the ground under feeders and along hedge bottoms; white-throats feed low and stay near a thicket to duck into.
2. Look for the signature move: a two-footed backward kick that flings leaf litter.
3. Learn the whistle, which fits the words Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody; fall birds often sing shaky, partial versions while the young ones practice.
4. Check the face for the white throat patch and yellow spot in front of the eye.

Sources

• massaudubon.orgGroups of migrant white-throated sparrows are noted throughout Massachusetts from mid-September to early November along weed-field edges and thickets; after mid-November wintering flocks appear, most commonly coastal but increasingly inland.
• massaudubon.orgThese boreal songbirds migrate southward and many pass the colder months in New England; they take seeds from feeders, more often the ground below them, and seldom feed far from a thicket or hedge; the song is a slow clear whistle following the cadence Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.
• mdc.mo.govOften scratches the ground by kicking backward with both feet at once; the song nicknamed Old Sam Peabody is heard in late fall and early spring, sometimes in winter.
• birdnote.orgInexperienced young birds sometimes begin with disorganized jumbles of notes known as sub-songs, and as winter deepens first-year birds get the syllables down but may sound shaky and off-key.

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