Dan's Feathursday Feature: Clay-colored Sparrow

Family lore has it that our last name is a simplified version of a much more difficult to spell French surname. The Americanized spelling came to my family courtesy of a 19th-century U.S. customs official with a tin ear and a fast quill. So I sympathize with the Clay-colored Sparrow.

I am convinced that the original name of this beautiful little sparrow was actually Clay-collared Sparrow, but some 19th-century botanist just wasn't listening, and wrote Clay-colored Sparrow instead.

Hear me out. What color immediately comes to mind when you think of clay? A soft gray, right? Oh sure, there's the famous red clay of Georgia, but this sparrow has never even been to Georgia, except by mistake. It's a bird of the Midwest and upper plains that migrates through Texas to Mexico and points south. Anyway, if I hear "clay-colored," I'm going to look for a dull gray bird.

But what sets the Clay-colored Sparrow apart from the other sparrows that it hangs around with is its overall brightness and the cleanly defined rusty cheek, black eye line and dark crown. It really is a pretty bird—anything but dull and gray. You know what part of this bird is dull and gray? A wide band around the back of its neck. It's the color of clay. The Clay-colored Sparrow is definitely a clay-collared sparrow.

OK, I'll stop with the clay-colored vs clay-collared debate, but I really do think clay-collared would be a more fitting name. And now, the next time you see this bird in the field, you're going to catch yourself saying, "There's a Clay...oh, shoot, was that Clay-colored, or Clay-collared...!?" Guaranteed. Gotcha!

The Clay-colored Sparrow is one of the most numerous of sparrows, especially in the plains states, though most folks have probably never even heard of it. We can see them in small numbers in the Chicago area during their spring and fall migrations. Next time you see a "little brown bird" land on the ground close to you, take the time to get a good look. If it has a collar the color of clay, you'll know what it's called.

Dan's Feathursday Feature is a regular contribution to the COS blog featuring the thoughts, insights and photography of Chicago birder, Dan Lory on birds of the Chicago region.