Grasshopper Sparrow

Ammodramus savannarumOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

General

Grasshopper Sparrow: Medium-sized sparrow with brown-streaked upperparts and white underparts. Face, flanks, and breast are plain buff-brown. Head is flat with central white stripe though dark crown. Upper mandible is gray, while lower mandible is yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has streaked breast and yellow bill.

Range and Habitat

Grasshopper Sparrow: Breeds from Alaska, Manitoba to New Hampshire; winters in central and southern half of U.S. Inhabits prairie grasslands, pastures, old weedy fields, palmetto scrub, grain fields, and hayfields.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kip-kip-kip zeee"

Interesting Facts

Grasshopper Sparrow parents prepare grasshoppers to feed to the nestlings by shaking off each pair of legs in turn.
Twelve subspecies are recognized. Four breed in North America, four are resident in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador, and four are resident in the Caribbean.
A secretive bird, it will fly a short distance when flushed, and then drop back into the grass out of sight. They usually stay out of sight unless they are singing, when they will perch on a weed stalk, shrub, or fence wire and belt out their buzzy song.
A group of Grasshopper Sparrows are collectively known as a "plague" of sparrows.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow: Medium sparrow with brown-streaked upperparts and white underparts. Face, flanks, and breast are plain buff-brown. Head is flat with central white stripe though dark crown. Upper mandible is gray, while lower mandible is yellow. Pink legs and feet. Named for its insectlike song.

● Song: "kip-kip-kip zeee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Grasshopper Sparrow: Feeds mostly on insects, including grasshoppers(staple), beetles, caterpillars, and crickets; also eats spiders, earthworms, snails, and seeds; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Grasshopper Sparrow: Three to six creamy white eggs with spots and flecks of red brown are laid in a cup of grass lined with rootlets and hair, and built near or on the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Grasshopper Sparrow: Baird's Sparrow has streaks across breast. Henslow's Sparrow has olive face and rust-brown wings. Le Conte's Sparrow has smaller bill and streaked flanks.

Flight Pattern

Fluttering wing beats., Rapid undulating flight.

● Range & Habitat: Grasshopper Sparrow: Breeds from Alaska, Manitoba to New Hampshire; winters in central and southern half of U.S. Inhabits prairie grasslands, pastures, old weedy fields, palmetto scrub, grain fields, and hayfields.

^BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.8 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America