Clay-colored Sparrow

The clay-colored sparrow is one of the most numerous songbirds found on the central plains of North America. They breed in central Canada and the north Central United States and winter primarily in Mexico. They breed in shrubland habitats. The breeding territory is smaller then most other species of sparrow because they forage away from their breeding territory. They forage on the ground and eat a variety of seeds, grasses, leaf buds, and insects.

Males typically come back to the same nesting territory each year but females usually choose a different territory and mate each year. Their nest is usually located on the lower branches of a bush near to the ground. Females build the nest, which is cup shaped, but males help by bringing nesting materials like twigs and grass. The eggs take a week and a half to two weeks to hatch. The chicks are born helpless and with out feathers. In 7-9 days after hatching they leave the nest. They are still not able to fly at this time but they will spend the next week on the ground in the bushes where they will be fed by their parents.   

Clay-colored Sparrow

The clay-colored sparrow breeds in the open grasslands of central Canada and the north central United States. It is a ground foraging species, feeding primarily on seeds of grasses and weeds. They will also eat fruits, berries, buds and insects. They feed on insects more often later in the summer and also feed them to their young. Clay-colored sparrows often forage off of their territory and are sometimes mixed in with other species of sparrows. Because of this their breeding territory is generally smaller.  

Male clay-colored sparrows arrive on the breeding territory first. They are often seen perched on a bush singing to announce their territory to prospective rivals and seek a receptive female. Once a pair finds each other they are magnanimous for the season. The female builds cup shaped nest placed on the ground or low in a bush. Nesting occurres in June and July. As the temperature begins to turn cold the sparrows migrate south to their wintering grounds in Texas and Mexico.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

 The clay-colored sparrow is an Emberizine, or new world, sparrow that lives in the central portions of North America. Their breeding range includes the north central portion of the United States, from Montana through Michigan, and central Canada. Their individual breeding territory is smaller then most other Passerine species, so they are often found foraging outside their territory during the breeding season. Clay-colored sparrows typically forage close to the ground and eat primarily grass seeds, though they will also eat insects. They tend to feed their young primarily insects. During the winter these sparrows migrate south to Mexico and Central America where they are often found in mixed flocks with other species of sparrows.

Prairie Wetlands Learning Center

On my way back home from the Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds I decided to make a stop at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center located near Fergus Falls, MN. I had the option to visit the center on one of the festival field trips but I choose Itasca and Tamarac instead because the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center was an easy stop on my way home.

The Prairie Wetlands Learning Center is the first residential environmental center operated by the U.S. fish and wildlife service. It began as a grass roots effort back in the 1970's to establish a public use facility focusing on prairies and wetlands. A local group calling themselves "The Friends of the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center," formed in 1989 and through private donations and grants they were able to open the center in 1994. The facility was expanded to include a dormitory and visitors center in 1998 and an education wing in 2008.

The Prairie Wetlands Learning Center is located on the Townsend Waterfowl Production Area, a 330 acre tract of land consisting of native and restored prairie, 28 wetlands and an oak savanna. There have been over 180 different species of birds that have been identified on the center grounds. With the abundance of prairie habitat it is no surprise that many different types of sparrows can be found there.

I have to confess that I have a difficult time identifying sparrows, right up there with gulls and darner dragonflies, so if I have misidentified any of these sparrows please let me know. I believe that the first sparrow, 2 pictures above, is a white-crowned sparrow, the one directly above is a clay colored sparrow and the one below is a song sparrow.

One of these days I am going to have to take the sparrow workshop that Doug Buri and Bob Janssen put on out in western South Dakota. I took their shorebird workshop back in 2008 but have not had the time to get out to take the sparrow workshop in October. Last year they identified 14 different species during the three day workshop. If you are interested in this workshop here is the address where you can find more information.

Besides sparrows there were other birds like this eastern bluebird. Bluebirds seem to be more common these days. That is just my unscientific observation.

Another cool bird that I was able to photograph were purple martins. I have seen purple martin gourds at several different locations but usually there have not been any purple martins. At this locations there seem to be a healthy population.

Besides the prairies the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center also has wetland areas. Around the wetlands I found quite a bit of bird life, such as Canada geese, mallards, American coot, as well as redwing and yellowheaded blackbirds.

While I was on my way back to the car everything went quiet. All of the small birds seemed to just disappear leaving me with just the Canada geese and mallards. A shadow crossed over head and I looked up to see a coopers hawk crossing the sky in search of prey. Since the geese were a little much for a coopers hawk it continued on its way.

Medicine Lake NWR Passerines

Friday, May 15th, the day that we were out at Medicine Lake was kind of an anniversary for me. It was one year, from that date, that I was diagnosed with diabetes. I think that it was one of the reasons that our 2007 Yellowstone trip did not go as well as other Yellowstone trips. Taking insulin and trying to figure out what I could eat and what I couldn't and how much complicated things a bit. This year it was not a big deal at all. Probably because I pretty much have things under control. Since I was diagnosed a year ago I have lost 20 pounds, which is not bad considering that I was only a little over weight to begin with. When I was diagnosed my A1C, a test that measures the average of your blood sugar level over the past several months, was at 13.9. Since you are supposed to be under 7.0 mine was pretty high, which is why they put me on a 24 hour insulin as well as pills. On my last visit my A1C was 5.4. Along with the drugs I have altered my diet and I am getting more exercise by hiking through parks chasing after birds and other wildlife with my camera. That Friday we also saw quite a few birds in the fields that surround Medicine Lake.
I am not really great with my sparrow identification so someone please correct me if I get one of the sparrows wrong. I believe that the one above is a vesper sparrow.
I think that this one is a clay-colored sparrow. Sparrows are the hardest type of birds for me to ID. They are all small and mostly brown with very subtle differences. Maybe after shorebird class later this summer I can find a class to help me better ID sparrows.

We have horned lark here in MN but mostly I see them from a distance on the side of roads during the winter. This horned lark let me get some nice shots.
Brown thrashers are a bit more common in the eastern US. The 3 or 4 that we spotted at Medicine Lake were in the western part of their typical range.
Once in a while we will spot a yellow-headed blackbird mixed in with red-winged black birds in the eastern portion of Minnesota but they are more common in the western half of the state. Out in Montana there were more yellow-heads then there were redwings.
The western kingbird is the cousin of the eastern kingbird that we typically see in Minnesota. However the range of the western kingbird has been moving east and now includes parts of western Minnesota.
We saw, and heard, quite a few western meadowlarks in the park and most of the places which we traveled through in Montana. In eastern Minnesota we can see either the eastern or western meadowlark, but these days, with most of the large open field being devoured for development, I rarely see either type. It is too bad because it was really nice to hear them singing as we were driving down the road.