Clay-colored Sparrow
Spizella pallida

Migratory Status: Short-distance migrant

PIF Population Estimate: 23 000 000

Percent of western hemisphere population breeding in boreal forest: 51%

BAM Effective Detection Radius (m) : 68.73

PIF Maximum Detection Distance (m) : 125

Canadian BBS Population trend: -1.4 (-2.0 to -0.9)

Life History

The Clay-colored Sparrow is one of the most numerous passerine species found in low shrub, second-growth, and transition zone habitats across the prairie provinces of Canada. Males defend the smallest territories of any Spizella sparrow, due to the fact that they only actively defend nesting areas, allowing high breeding densities.

The breeding range of Clay-colored Sparrows extends from the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories, south and east across the Prairie Provinces in Canada and the Great Plains in the United States into New York and southern Quebec. During the winter, this short-distant migrant lives in the deserts and open plains of Texas and Baja California, south through the Mexican highlands into Guatemala.

Males in breeding plumage have unstreaked grayish underparts and gray-to-brown upperparts that are heavily streaked with black. Their crown plumage is distinctive and consists of a thin white stripe in the middle bordered by two thick brown stripes on either side, lined with black. A notched tail, two distinct white wing-bars, brown ear patches, white ‘eyebrows’, brown rump, and a fleshy coloured bill are other distinctive markings that can help to identify this small sparrow in the field.

Although Clay-colored Sparrows are numerous in shrubby habitats, they are probably best known and identified by their song. Males often advertise and sing from hidden perches within 3 m of the ground. The Clay-colored Sparrow song consists of multiple notes, uttered in quick succession, creating a ‘buzz’ sound. They sing up to three different songtypes, with each song type differing in the number of buzzes that they have.

The diet of the Clay-colored Sparrow consists of a mixture of invertebrates and seeds. They generally forage on the ground, picking or gleaning insects and seeds off the ground. During the breeding season, foraging areas are shared equally by a population of birds, because males only defend the area around the nest site. During the winter, Clay-colored Sparrows are highly social and can be found roosting and foraging in large, mixed-species flocks.

Reference(s)

Knapton, R. W. 1994. Clay-coloured Sparrow (Spizella pallida), The Birds of North America Online, . A. Poole, Ed. Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/120