The clay-colored sparrow or clay-coloured sparrow (''Spizella pallida'') is a small

New World sparrow New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns. Although they share t ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Adults have light brown upperparts and pale underparts, with darker streaks on the back. They have a pale crown stripe on a dark brown crown, a white line over the eyes, a dark line through the eyes, a light brown cheek patch and brown wings with wing bars. The short bill is pale with a dark tip and the back of the neck is grey; they have a long tail. Non-breeding adults and immature resemble chipping sparrows and

Brewer's sparrow Brewer's sparrow (''Spizella breweri'') is a small, slim species of American sparrow in the family Passerellidae. This bird was named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer. Description and systematics Adults have grey-brown backs and speck ...

s; they often form flocks with these birds outside the nesting season. Their breeding habitat is shrubby open areas and

jack pine Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana'') is an eastern North American pine. Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and ...

woods across central

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and central northern United States east to the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

, and is expanding further eastward. The nest is an open

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

on the ground or low in a shrub. These birds migrate in flocks to southern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. They forage on the ground, mainly eating seeds and insects. Outside the nesting season, they often feed in small flocks. While nesting, these birds may feed far from the nest; feeding areas are not defended. The male sings from an open perch to indicate his ownership of the nesting territory. The song is a ''Bzzzz bzzzz za za''. This bird's nests are made of grasses and lined with fine materials or hair. Three to five splotched blue-green eggs are laid and incubated for 11 days. They are often parasitized by the

brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...

; the nest may be abandoned when this happens.

References

External links

*
Clay-colored sparrow - ''Spizella pallida''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q551729 Spizella Birds of North America Birds of Canada Native birds of the Canadian Prairies Native birds of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Birds described in 1832 Taxa named by William John Swainson