Grasshopper Sparrow

Ammodramus savannarum
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

local summer resident in grassland habitats at the Dish, where 1-2 pairs nest in most years. No records elsewhere on campus. (Male is on the left.)
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 11-12 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
 
F?
4-5
(3-6)
MONOG
F: 9 DAYS
MF
SEEDS
  
BREEDING: Grassland, cultivated fields, prairie, old fields, open savanna. 2 broods, 3? in FL.
DISPLAYS: Courtship: low fluttering flight by male, silent or with song, the latter answered by female trill. Male may chase female while singing.
NEST: Sunk in slight depression, rim flush with ground level, well concealed by overhanging grass and forbs, arched or domed at back; of dried grass, lined with fine materials.
EGGS: Creamy white, marked with reddish-brown, occ wreathed. 0.8 (19 mm).
DIET: Includes invertebrates, grass and forb seeds.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to n S.A., Greater Antilles. Blue List 1974-86; declining in many areas, esp FL and Appalachians. FL subspecies Endangered. Nests often destroyed by mowing in cultivated grassland; despite loss of cover, birds stay and then suffer increased losses from predators. Uncommon cowbird host.
NOTES: Semicolonial breeding groups of 3-12 pairs. Local abundance fluctuates greatly between years. Male territorial display directed at other males alternates song with crouched display of lowered head and fluttering wings; territorial defense declines after young hatch. Female performs distraction display of short fluttering flight followed by feigned injury with spread wings and tail. Does not form winter flocks.
ESSAYS: Blue List; Birds and the Law; Territoriality; Distraction Displays.
REFERENCES: Kale, 1978; Wiens,1973.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).