The tiny “White Throated Sparrow” is probably one of the most commonly heard songbirds in the spring woods. Their repetitive familiar notes seem to be all over the woods this time of year. When I was a boy growing up on the family farm, we called it “Tom-Peep-A-Dee”. That was the name my father used. I knew they were sparrows, but the nickname was what we used. I filmed another video of them a while back where I explain the name and found out that the true term was “Tom Pea-body” broken up as “Tommm...pea....bod...dee...dee..dee..dee..dee!” And actually some people break it down as “Oh...Sweet Canada...Canada...Canada”! And apparently across Canada the males have been gradually changing their call pattern from a triple note to a double note over the years. But no matter how you interpret this sparrows call, one thing is clear. There certainly is no shortage of these little birds (their calls reverberate all around my house). And... they sure do have one “Powerful” set of pipes for such a tiny package. “Spring” sure wouldn't be the same without them.
Note: There are two striped head color patterns.. black and white with yellow and black and tan. This is with both male and female birds. Only opposite colors can mate (black and white) with (black and tan) or the opposite. This is because of genetic reasons. In this video if you listen to the other sparrows response to this birds call, it is very interesting. Its like it is finishing the song.. oh.. Can..a..daaaa.
