Clay-coloured Sparrow

Status Rare vagrant. The first record was of two birds seen by Betty June and Sidney Smith on Cape Sable Island on 5 October 1973. On 18-19 May 1975, Bruce Mactavish and Stuart Tingley photographed a bird on Seal Island. Since then it has been almost annual, with 16 reports of 19 individuals, including some photographed. Of these, only 2 have been in spring, on 15 May 1976 and 15-16 May 1983, both on Seal Island; the other 17 have occurred between 6 September and 18 November, 11 of them in October. Most have been on Seal Island, with single sightings from Bon Portage Island, Cape Sable, and, on the mainland, from Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary, Dartmouth, and Hartlen Point, Halifax County.

Remarks This mid-western and prairie bird has been expanding its range eastward, with casual nestings to southern Quebec. Because of its resemblance to the Chipping Sparrow, it may have been overlooked as an occasional vagrant in earlier times. Fall Clay-coloured Sparrows are particularly distinctive, with their buffy white breasts, contrasting gray napes and white whisker marks.