November 11, 2007 - White Throats Welcome to the Nature Notebook. The peak migration for a handsome sparrow occurs about now. This rusty-backed bird has dark stripes on the crown of its head and a dark line extending through each eye. A yellow “eyebrow” in front of each eye adds a bit of color. But the most striking feature is a conspicuous biblike white throat-patch that gives this bird its name: White-throated Sparrow. Although a few of these sparrows breed in the Pocono Mountains and others at higher elevations in northern Pennsylvania, most breed across Canada. They begin trickling south into our state in September, with increasing numbers from about mid-October through mid-November. Numbers of these sparrows gradually taper off by December. However, you might just see a White-throated Sparrow or two at your bird feeders well into the winter months. Typical sparrows they spend a lot of time feeding on the ground. This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.