buzz-buzz
This common migratory sparrow is similar to a Chipping Sparrow, but more buffy overall and paler.
Since we will see it (as a non-breeding bird in the fall), it sports a clean gray nape, a strong dark mustache, a pale eyering, pale lores, and a buffy breastband.
As shrubland and field edge breeders, these passerines will visit Christmas tree farms and grass areas with short and scattered coniferous trees.
Clay-colored Sparrow, fall plumage
Boomer Lake Park, 2016
Wintering in southern Texas and south, as well as breeding in the north central US and the western Boreral Forest, it passes through the prairie and Great Plains states. In the winter, if one travels to those regions, it can be found in the company of White-crowned, Brewer's, and Chipping Sparrows along upland plains, brushy hillsides, and fields.
Fond of shrubs and forbs, they will dine upon soapberry, mesquite, mustard, and spiders, small insects, as well as moths. Brushy areas of streams and rivers can be a favored location to locate them, where they will be observed hopping under thickets. This is a fabulous hot spot during their migratory period.
They are parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird during breeding season, which could be attributed to their slight population decline.
For More Clay-colored Sparrow Photos, See:
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/pre-and-post-storm-events.html
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