Clay-colored Sparrow

Spizella pallida

First view, singing, alternate plumage, Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota, 20 June 2011; note leg band.

Another view, same bird as in previous photo; note medium crown stripe.

According to Brock's Birds of Indiana, the birds seen in the next two photos constitute a first county record for this species. Clint Murray, though, tells me that Alan Bruner had Clay-colored Sparrow in the county once in the 1980's. So the bird in the next two photos is either a first or a second county record.

First, the Burn, Montgomery County, 24 September 2006.

Second, the Burn, Montgomery County, 24 September 2006.