The clay-colored sparrow or clay-coloured sparrow
(''Spizella pallida'') is a small
New World sparrow of
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 sparrow
The chipping sparrow (''Spizella passerina'') is a species of New World sparrow, a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It is widespread, fairly tame, and common across most of its North American range.
There are two subspecies, the east ...
s and
Brewer's sparrows; they often form flocks with these birds outside the nesting season.
Their breeding habitat is shrubby open areas and
jack pine woods across central
Canada and central northern United States east to the
Great 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, c ...
on the ground or low in a shrub.
These birds
migrate
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
in flocks to southern
Texas and
Mexico.
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
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
by the brown-headed cowbird; the nest may be abandoned when this happens.
References
External links
*
Clay-colored sparrow - ''Spizella pallida''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
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{{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