Ammodramus savannarum
This open-country bird is named not for its diet but rather for one of its buzzy, insect-like songs. Males sing two completely different, squeaky courtship songs, one short and the other sustained. The courtship flight is brutish: the males chase the females through the air, buzzing at a frequency that is inaudible to our ears. If a nesting female Grasshopper Sparrow is flushed from her nest, she will run quietly away, swiftly separating herself from the danger. Ammodramus is Greek for 'sand runner,' and savannarum is Latin for 'savanna,' its typical habitat. |
I.D.: Sexes similar: unstreaked breast; unmarked face; buffy cheek; flat head; pale legs; mottled, brown upperparts; beady, black eyes; sharp tail; pale crown stripe. Size: L 41/2-51/4 in. (11-13 cm). Range: uncommon migrant and summer resident in northwestern Montana; rare to very rare migrant elsewhere in the Rockies. Habitat: grasslands, weedy fields and native prairies up to the montane. Nesting: on the Great Plains; occasionally semi-colonial; in a shallow depression on the ground, usually under a dome of bent grass; small cup nest is woven with grass and lined with plant fibers, fur and small roots; female incubates 4-5 eggs for 12-13 days. Feeding: gleans the ground and low plants, pecking and scurrying through the grass; eats mainly grasshoppers; also eats other invertebrates and seeds. Voice: song is an insect-like buzz: pit-tuck zee-ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e. Similar Species: LeConte's Sparrow: buffy-orange face markings. Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow orangish face; gray cheeks and shoulders. Baird's Sparrow faint 'necklace'; 2 stripes bordering a white chin. |
