Grasshopper Sparrow

Overview

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.

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.

INTERESTING FACTS

Grasshopper Sparrow parents prepare grasshoppers to feed to the nestlings by shaking off each pair of legs in turn.
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.
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 group of Grasshopper Sparrows are collectively known as a "plague" of sparrows.

The Grasshopper Sparrow is a small species of bird whose natural habitat includes grasslands and marshes. Breeding of this species takes place in open grass fields and prairies in southern Canada and throughout the United States. This bird conceals its nest underneath existing vegetation on the ground. During winter months, the Grasshopper Sparrow migrates to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The typical diet of this species consists of insects, including grasshoppers, and seeds found by foraging on the ground. The current conservation rating of the Grasshopper Sparrow is Least Concern, though loss of its natural habitat causes rapid decline in its numbers.