This is a sparrow of the dry brushlands. The Clay-colored sparrow breeds chiefly across the northern prairies from northeast British Columbia east to Michigan and south into Colorado. It winters in the southern United States and Mexico.

It has expanded its range westward and northward in recent years and is now nesting in small numbers in eastern Washington. It was seldom reported west of the Rocky Mountains prior to 1960. Since that time, it has become a regular migrant and wintering bird along the west coast.

Hear the song of the Clay-colored sparrow

Clay-colored sparrow. Photo by "Always a birder", Flickr