White-crowned Sparrow

Zonotrichia leucophrys

The white-crowned sparrow is a species of passerine bird native to North America. A medium-sized member of the New World sparrow family, this species is marked by a grey face and black and white streaking on the upper head. It breeds in brushy areas in the taiga and tundra of the northernmost parts of the continent and in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast. While southerly populations in the Rocky Mountains and coast are largely resident, the breeding populations of the northerly part of its range are migratory and can be found as wintering or passage visitors through most of North America south to central Mexico. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 4,069,292 times across 70 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 18°C (typically 9 to 22°C, from 50 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 34°N in January to 57°N in June, about 2,500 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.