Family: Emberizidae, New World Sparrows view all from this family

Description 5-5 1/2" (13-14 cm). A small sparrow with streaked crown and buffy upperparts and clear gray breast; similar to an immature Chipping Sparrow but brighter, with rump brownish buff instead of lead gray, sides of neck gray, and buff cheek patch bordered above and below with black. Grasshopper Sparrow has buff underparts. See Brewer's Sparrow.

Habitat Brushy grasslands and prairies.

Nesting 3-5 pale blue eggs, spotted with dark brown, in a bulky cup of hair-lined grass placed in a bush or clump of weeds up to 6' (2 m) above the ground.

Range Breeds from north-central Canada and Great Lakes region south to Colorado and Michigan. Winters north to southern Texas.

Voice   Series of 4 or 5 toneless, insect-like buzzes.

Discussion 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. Each spring and fall a few individuals, most of them immatures, appear on the Eastern Seaboard, where they can be difficult to distinguish from immature Chipping Sparrows, with which they often associate.