13 Nov 1982 in Pebble Beach MTY
The CLAY-COLORED SPARROW is a scarce but regular fall vagrant in California, especially along the coast or at desert vagrant traps. A tiny handful have wintered in the state; spring vagrants are quite few.
All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H
were found or co-found by me personally; those
preceded by K receive some partial
credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered
bird or
refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left). My notes in
the 1970s do not always sort out credit issues so it is
possible additional birds might have been "self-found." As with many
eastern vagrants, many more were seen during active
rarity chasing throughout the state in younger days, and a higher percentage
of records are from my local county (MTY) in
recent years.
These are most of my personal Clay-colored Sparrow records (there may be a few more to be extracted from notes):
9/20/74 Santa Barbara I. SBA immSee the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2002 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
12/16/74 Hayward ALA imm description & sketch in my notes; a wintering bird
10/17/76 Tijuana R. valley SD imm
9/10/77 Pt. Loma SD 2 imms
H 10/3/81 Big Sur R. mouth MTY imm
10/23/91 Pt. Loma SD
10/11/97 Scottys Castle INY imm
H 9/30/82 Big Sur R. mouth MTY imm
11/13/82 Pebble Beach MTY imm photo'd at Eliz. Ingles’ feeder
9/10/84 Pebble Beach MTY imm
10/6/84 Carmel R. mouth MTY imm
10/26/88 Carmel R. mouth MTY imm; sketch & description in my notes
9/29/90 Carmel R. mouth MTY imm
9/20/92 Big Sur R. mouth mesa MTY imm
9/25/94 Big Sur R. mouth mesa MTY imm
9/30/95 Big Sur R. mouth mesa MTY 2 imm
10/26/96 Asilomar pond (Majella Slough) MTY imm
10/4/97 Big Sur R. mouth mesa MTY 2 imm
H 9/27/98 Pt. Pinos MTY imm photo’d in maintence yard
10/17/98 Big Sur R. mouth mesa MTY imm
H 9/13/00 Pt. Pinos MTY imm at edge of Crespi Pond