Grasshopper Sparrow

IDENTIFICATION: A small, brown bird with a large, flat head, short tail, and a small orange spot in front of the eye. The crown has a buffy white stripe in the center. Length: 11-12 cm.; weight: 15-19 g.

VOICE: The male has two very different songs: an insect-like, accelerating trill. Also a high-pitched jumble of notes. Audio 3 (M. Oberle).

HABITAT: Weedy fields and pastures with tall grass and isolated bushes.

HABITS: Feeds on insects and seeds on the ground or in low grasses and shrubs. In one study of stomach contents, 1/3 of the diet in Puerto Rico was seeds, and the remainder consisted of insects: beetles, crickets, ants, bugs, and caterpillars. This species can be hard to see, since it spends much of its time foraging on the ground below tall grass. The exception is during the breeding season when the male sings from the top of a grass stalk or shrub to advertise his territory. He sometimes displays by singing during a slow, fluttery flight over his territory. The female builds a well-hidden nest on the ground under an arch of grasses. She incubates 3-5 eggs for 11-12 days. Both sexes feed the young. This species nests in loose clusters, shifting breeding sites, as vegetation conditions change.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: A common, permanent resident in grasslands in Puerto Rico. This species is often overlooked because of its weak song, and drab plumage. The clearing of forests in the 19^th Century created new habitat for this species, but the recent expansion of urban areas has reduced grassland habitat. Mongooses are a threat to this, as well as other ground-nesting birds.

RANGE: Breeds from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and on Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. North American breeders spend the winter in the southern part of the continent, and in Central America, and Cuba. A regular place to find the Grasshopper Sparrow is in short grass fields near Caño Tiburones Nature Reserve.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; EMBERIZIDAE. The Puerto Rican subspecies, Ammodramus savannarum borinquensis, is smaller and has a brighter central crown stripe than many other subspecies.


Photo: C. Ruiz

References

Bent, A.C. 1968. Life histories of North American cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, towhees, finches, sparrows and allies. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 237, part 2. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1968).

Byers, C., J. Curson, and U. Olsson. 1995. Sparrows and buntings: a guide to the sparrows and buntings of North America and the world. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Saliva, J.E. 1994. Vieques y su fauna: Vieques wildlife manual. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Boquerón, PR.

Vickery, P. D. 1996. Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum). No. 239 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C.

Grasshopper Sparrow, Spanish text

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