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Clay-colored Sparrow

Spizella pallidaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Clay-colored Sparrow Portrait
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General

Clay-colored Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with black-streaked brown upperparts and buff underparts. Face is pale with finely streaked crown, crisp brown cheek patch, white eyestripe, and gray nape. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is heavily streaked with buff wash on face, flanks, and wings.

Range and Habitat

Clay-colored Sparrow: Breeds from north-central Canada and Great Lakes region south to Colorado and Michigan. Spends winters from southern Texas south. Preferred habitats include brushy grasslands and prairies.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"bzzz-bzzz-zeee-zeee"

Interesting Facts

  • The plowing of the prairies reduced the habitat of the Clay-colored Sparrow, but with the clearing of forests it has extended its range northeastward and now breeds in the eastern Great Lakes region.
  • Unlike most songbirds, they forage outside of their nesting territory, leaving them with smaller territories to defend than most songbirds their size.
  • This bird's nests are often parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird; the nest may be abandoned when this happens.
  • A group of sparrows has many collective nouns, including a "crew", "flutter", "meinie", "quarrel", and "ubiquity" of sparrows.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Clay-colored Sparrow
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Spizella pallida
Length5.5 Inches
Wingspan8 Inches

Clay-colored Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow: Medium sparrow with black-streaked brown upperparts and buff underparts. The face is pale with finely streaked crown, crisp brown cheek patch, white eyestripe, and gray nape. Pink-gray legs and feet. Short flight, alternates several rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "bzzz-bzzz-zeee-zeee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Clay-colored Sparrow: Diet consists of seeds and insects; forages on the ground or low in trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Clay-colored Sparrow: Three to five blue green eggs, marked with dark brown and black, are laid in a bulky cup of hair-lined grass built in a bush or clump of weeds up to 6 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 10 to 12 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Clay-colored Sparrow: Brewer's Sparrow lacks white central crown stripe, dark cheek borders, distinct eye-line, and gray nape. Field Sparrow has pink bill, rust-brown crown, and white eye-ring. In fall and winter, Chipping Sparrow has more rust-brown on crown.

Flight Pattern

Short flights with rapid wing beats.
Clay-colored Sparrow Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Clay-colored Sparrow: Breeds from north-central Canada and Great Lakes region south to Colorado and Michigan. Spends winters from southern Texas south. Preferred habitats include brushy grasslands and prairies.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.4 Ounces