Clay-colored Sparrow

During our Friday and Saturday strolls in the Carleton College arboretum, we flushed a single Clay-colored Sparrow. Unlike the uncommon Henslow's Sparrow we had just photographed, Clay-colored Sparrows are common in the grasslands of the northern Great Plains.

The Great Plains is one of our most endangered major ecosystems (Todd and Knapton 2002). Much of these grasslands is converted to agriculture or subjected to overgrazing. The prairie that remains is fragmented and in poor condition. In many areas, fire suppression has even resulted in reforestation.