A cute little winter visitor

We often think of sparrows as small brown birds that like to aggressively take over bird houses made for wrens, bluebirds and purple martins. But there are other kinds of sparrows in the wilds of Southeast Missouri.

In this photo I took the afternoon of Dec. 20, you can see the intricate detail of the various shades of brown on the feathers of this bird. It is a white-throated sparrow.

A white-throated sparrow can be identified by the yellow stripe between the eyes and beak accompanied by a white throat patch. The beak is built to crack small seeds. This bird nests in eastern Canada and migrated south for winter. It frequents brushy places and will eat the spilled birdseed under your winter bird feeder.