Clay-colored Sparrow

Spizella pallidaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Codes: Common Name: CCSP Scientific Name: SPIPAL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179439

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Overview

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.

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.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

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.

Bird Term Glossary

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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.

Clay-colored Sparrow

● 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.

● 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

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America