Clay-colored Sparrow downtown Detroit

[Karl Overman]

I saw a Clay-colored Sparrow on the former site of the Hilton Hotel  
at the north end of Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit today at  
around 5:30 p.m.  It was on the edge of the large, grassy cleared  
area where the former hotel had been.  It would periodically fly up  
and land on the fence says one or two feet off the ground.   
Fortunately it was one of those rare days where I had my good  
binoculars at work so I got a good at this bird.

The bird was by itself.  It is the first time I have seen a native  
species on this cleared area even though I walk past it at least 3  
times a week.

Other birds downtown included 7 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, E. Towhee  
(Lafayette Park), Orange-crowned Warbler (Lafayette Park),  and an  
Ovenbird (Lafayette Park),