Lazuli Finch, Clay-coloured Finch, Oregon Snow Finch

Around thickets and streamside trees of the West, this sky-blue bunting is common in summer. Males are conspicuous in summer, singing in the open, but the plainer brown females are far more elusive as they tend their nests in the thick bushes. During migration, flocks are more easily observed as they forage in brushy fields. Where Lazuli and Indigo buntings overlap in breeding range, on the Great Plains and parts of the Southwest, they often interbreed.

This rather plain and pale little sparrow is a typical summer bird of the northern prairies, where the males perch in the tops of low thickets to sing their flat, monotonous buzzes. It is sometimes a very common migrant in a narrow corridor through the Great Plains; to the east and west of there it is a rare stray, but small numbers reach both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts every year, mainly in fall. Clay-colored Sparrows seen out of range are usually with flocks of Chipping or Brewer's sparrows, close relatives with similar habits.

In winter over much of the continent, flocks of Juncos can be found around woodland edges and suburban yards, feeding on the ground, making ticking calls as they fly up into the bushes. East of the plains the Juncos are all gray and white, but in the West they come in various color patterns, with reddish-brown on the back or sides or both; some of these were once regarded as different species. The forms have separate ranges in summer, but in winter several types may occur in the same flock in parts of the West.