These sparrows have a gray breast, with black and white striped heads, and a pink bill. Male and female look similar in coloring, though the male will be slightly larger. The young male will learn the song it will sing within the first three months of its life.

It likes open woodlands, grasslands, and parks. Its nest is built of twigs and grass in a cup shape and located in brush on the ground.

As the White-crowned Sparrow feeds primarily on the ground in or near the protection of dense underbrush and shrubs, we recommend you place a tray feeder in a protected open space with shrubs and trees nearby. The White-crowned Sparrow will frequent other types of feeders, nervously perching at the feeder and scavenging dropped seed below it.

You can find them in northern Canada, Alaska, throughout the western United States, and in winter the eastern United States.