Species: Spizella pallida

Clay-colored Sparrow

Species

Birds

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Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Emberizidae

Genus

Spizella

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100970

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Clay-coloured Sparrow - Gorrión Pálido - bruant des plaines

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Emberizidae - Spizella - See Zink and Dittmann (1993) for a hypothesis for evolution in the genus SPIZELLA. See Dodge et al. (1995) for a comparison of phylogenies derived from two molecular data sets for the genus SPIZELLA; among other results, monophyly of SPIZELLA including the American tree sparrow was supported.

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A small bird (sparrow).

Migration

false - false - true - Arrives in northern U.S. and Canadian breeding areas in May (Terres 1980).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Feeds on a wide variety of seeds; during the summer eats insects. Forages on or near the ground. When breeding, feeds in area separate from nesting territory (Munson 1992).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is 3-5 (usually 3-4). Incubation, probably by both sexes, lasts 11-14 days (Terres 1980). Young leave nest 7-9 days after hatching.

Ecology Comments

In Saskatchewan, density was about one pair per ha in unburned prairie (Pylypec 1991). Nesting territories are relatively small, about 0.1 to 0.5 ha (Fox 1961, Salt 1966, Root 1968, Terres 1980). In Manitoba, Knapton (1979) reported smaller territories of about 0.04-0.1 ha. Territory size and arrangement in relation to other territories may depend upon shrub cover; nesting in areas with less dense brush cover may require larger territories (Knapton 1979). Although little area was needed for nesting, sparrows required foraging areas outside of defended nest territories (Knapton 1979, 1994).

Length

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-04

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDING: southern MacKenzie and eastern British Columbia east to central Ontario south to eastern Washington, central Montana, southeastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, southern Nebraska, northern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, central and southeastern Michigan (AOU 1983, Knapton 1994). NON-BREEDING: southern Baja California, northern mainland of Mexico, and central Texas south to Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas, in highlands. Casual to western Guatemala (AOU 1983, Knapton 1994).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100970