The Golden-crowned Sparrow is a far west specialty of the U.S. and Canada. It is a common winter resident of the Puget Trough that can be found throughout Edmonds from autumn to late spring. Look for this sparrow in brushy areas of parks and yards. By the end of May, most of these sparrows will have left for their breeding grounds in British Columbia and Alaska, with a small number remaining into June. They start to return by mid-September.

This big, burly sparrow inhabits brushy areas and thickets. It has adapted well to the protection of Scotch broom stands and tangles of Himalayan blackberries. But any thicket will do. Plant a small thicket of native evergreen huckleberries in your yard, along with some native ground cover such as salal or ferns, and the Golden-crowned Sparrow will find it. It can be seen in small flocks of its own species and often with the smaller and more vocal White-crowned Sparrow.

Seeds and insects are the staples of the Golden-crowned Sparrow’s diet. In winter it eats mostly weed and grass seeds by foraging on the ground, near or under thickets. As new shoots emerge in spring, you can watch this sparrow in shrubs or low trees eating buds, flowers and new shoots. Spiders and some insects are added to its diet as they become available. This sparrow will come to a seed feeder, where it can be found scratching among seeds that have fallen to the ground, as long as it is near protective cover.

On its subarctic breeding grounds, the Golden-crowned Sparrow builds a well-hidden ground nest under thickets of dwarf willow or other shrubs. The nest is a cup of plant materials such as grasses, weeds and leaves. It is lined with finer grasses and some animal hair, usually from moose, deer or caribou. The three to five eggs are incubated for a period of 11-13 days. The hatchlings are feeble, with closed eyes and sparse gray down. Both parents feed them until they are able to leave the nest about two weeks after hatching. This sparrow has one to two broods a year. It is a species of least concern as its population is considered stable or growing slightly. However, it has been so little studied that it remains unknown how human activity will affect it. It is also unknown how climate change will impact its breeding grounds in the subarctic.

You can listen to the song of the Golden-crowned Sparrow at this web page: https://www.xeno-canto.org/185189. Once you hear the song, you can appreciate why Alaskan gold miners coined the name Weary Willie for this sparrow.

— By Carol Riddell