The clear monotone whistles of the White-throated Sparrow offers a sense of peace to many who hear its song. A frequent singer, even throughout the day, the song of the White-throated Sparrow is an iconic song of northern forests. You will likely hear its far-carrying song in the air long before you see this sparrow.
The distinctive song of the White-throated Sparrow begins with a longer introductory whistled note, then slightly changes pitch, either up or down, by the 2nd and/or 3rd note, and ends the song phrase with a syncopated rhythm. It should be no surprise as well that the spectrogram of the White-throated sparrow’s song, is also distinctive. Once seen, you can easily recognize its long and short, dash and dots, before you even listen to the monotone whistled song of the White-throated Sparrow!
This particular audio recording of a White-Throated Sparrow was captured along the Alder Trail near Blueberry Hill on June 15, 2017, during the first season/year of our project to document the bird sounds of Acadia National Park’s Schoodic Peninsula. You can hear/see the full recording here, at the Macaulay Library of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. And or, you can hear/see more recordings of White-Throated Sparrow (and other bird species) from our project to-date here.