Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Savanna
      or Small Grains/Forage Crops
      or Fields/Pastures

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The Grasshopper Sparrow is very much a grassland bird. It is found in native prairie, cultivated fields, old fields, pastures, and open savanna. In the Atlas Habitat Survey, this sparrow was reported from only four habitats. Birds were most often found in old fields and hayfields and infrequently in pastures and grasslands. In general, the frequency of records of the Grasshopper Sparrow matched those of the available habitat estimated by the survey, although there is evidence of a preference for hayfields, especially in the northern Lower Peninsula.

The nest is made of fine grass and usually placed in a clump of vegetation with the cup lip at ground level. The back of the nest is frequently domed and the nest is generally well concealed by overhanging vegetation. In many respects, the Grasshopper Sparrow selects habitats and nest sites remarkably similar to the Savannah Sparrow.

In recent decades, the Grasshopper Sparrow population has been declining in the southern Lower Peninsula. Increased urbanization, intensive farming on good soils, and succession on abandoned marginal lands have probably reduced favorable habitat for the Grasshopper Sparrow in the southern Lower Peninsula, and will perhaps contribute to a continuing decline in the future.

Habitat: Breeding: Hayfields, weedy fallow fields, prairies. Avoids shrubby fields. Johnston and Odum reported that Grasshopper Sparrows were absent from fields with greater than 35 percent shrub cover. Birds favor uplands with ground vegetation of various densities.

Special Habitat Requirements: Continuous tall herbaceous cover. Conspicuous perches for singing.

Habitat: Grassland, hayfields, prairies. Breeds in rather dry fields and prairies, especially those with fairly tall grass and weeds and a few scattered shrubs. Also nests in overgrown pastures and hayfields and sometimes in fields of other crops.

Diet: Mostly insects and seeds. In summer, feeds mostly on insects, including many grasshoppers, also beetles, caterpillars, ants, true bugs, and many others. Also eats spiders, snails, centipedes and earthworms. Seeds are also important in diet, probably more so in winter, including those of weeds and grasses as well as waste grain.

Nest: Site is on the ground, very well hidden at base of weed, shrub, or clump of grass. Often placed in slight depression, so that rim of nest is even with level of ground. Nest is an open cup of dry grass, lined with fine grass, rootlets, sometimes animal hair. Usually has partly domed back and sides of grass woven into overhanging vegetation, leaving opening at front.