Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus leconteii)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Small Grains/Forage Crops
      or Fields/Pastures
      or Sedge Meadow

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: Le Conte's Sparrows are typically associated with extensive emergent wetlands of grass, sedge, and rush. Nests are placed within rank vegetation at the edge of these wetlands, rarely over water. The nests tend to be covered with dead grass and are well concealed.

In Michigan, Le Conte's Sparrow populations generally are limited to extensive northern sedge meadows characterized by uninterrupted expanses of herbaceous vegetation, standing water through spring, and minimal woody vegetation. This habitat is most prevalent on and adjacent to Seney National Wildlife Refuge where several square miles of monotypic sedge meadows harbor Michigan's largest population of Le Conte's Sparrows.

Other breeding habitat types include open peatlands, alvars (a unique natural community of dry, short-grass openings with a few inches of topsoil above dolomite bedrock), and minimally disturbed agricultural land, as represented in the Rudyard Flats areas in Chippewa co. Here, a mixture of fallow fields, wet meadows, pastures, and hayfields are prevalent. Similar field communities also are used by populations in Minnesota, particularly relatively dry, short-grass hayfields.

Habitat: Tall grass, weedy hayfields, marshes. Breeds in wet meadows or the edges of marshes, in areas with damp soil or very shallow water and dense growth of grass, sedges or rushes.

Diet: Mostly insects and seeds. Diet not well known, but apparently eats mostly insects in summer, mostly seeds in winter. Eats caterpillars, leafhoppers, stink bugs, and many other insects as well as spiders. Also eats seeds of grasses and weeds. Young are fed exclusively on insects.

Nest: Site is usually a few inches above ground, sometimes on the ground, well hidden in areas with large amounts of dead grass, rushes, or sedges remaining from preceding seasons. The nest attached to standing stems, is an open cup of grass and rushes, lined with fine grass and sometimes animal hair.