Tootie's Backyard

Whitney’s Home

Whitney was born in Canada, where she spends half the year raising her family. When her home gets really cold in the winter, she travels to Louisiana to visit Tootie and Yoshi.

She prefers to nest in conifer trees – trees that have cones and needle-like leaves, particularly pine trees. Although many white-throated sparrows also build their nests on the ground near bushes.

Her mom built the nest she was born in on the ground, using moss to build up an indention in the ground. She added grass, twigs, wood chips, and pine needles to the walls before lining it with grass, roots, and deer hair and hiding the nest with leaves.

How can you tell a conifer tree from a deciduous tree?

Whitney’s Hobbies

Whitney loves to hop along the ground, foraging for food with other white-throated sparrows. While Whitney has white stripes on her head, many of her relatives have tan stripes. The tan-striped white-throated sparrows and the white-striped white-throated sparrows are what are called different color morphs.

As a sparrow, Whitney is a passerine, a classification of birds that includes the world’s songbirds. Whitney loves to sing from the top of the honeysuckle bush in Tootie’s backyard.

Her favorite pastime, though, is hopping through leaf litter, kicking it aside quickly to uncover buggy snacks.

What color morphs of white-throated sparrows do you see in your yard?

Whitney’s Diet

Whitney is an omnivore: She eats bugs, seeds, flowers, and berries. She prefers bugs when she can find them, especially millipedes and centipedes, which she captures in leaf litter under the honeysuckle bush in Tootie’s backyard. She will also capture spiders, beetles, and dragonflies when they get close enough. She likes the oak and elm seeds from the trees in Tootie’s backyard.

What trees do you have in your yard?