[2] Adults have grey-brown backs and speckled brown crowns, both with dark streaks, and a pale eye-ring.

They are similar in appearance to the clay-colored sparrow (S. pallida) but do not have a pale stripe on the crown or grey neck patch.

There are two distinct subspecies: These birds migrate to the southwestern United States south to central Mexico.

They mainly eat insects in summer with seeds becoming a more important part of the diet at other times of the year.

Causes are not well understood, but it is suspected that the decline is due at least in part to destruction of sagebrush habitat.