Hear the Persistent, Buzzy Song of the Savannah Sparrow
To ID this understated brown bird, look for a yellow eyebrow stripe and listen for its subtle trilling.
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Transcript:
You’ll have to listen closely to hear this summer songster.
That persistent buzzy song is the Savannah Sparrow. Savannah Sparrows are abundant in open habitats throughout North America, including grasslands and pastures, cultivated fields, even saltmarshes. Ornithologist Alexander Wilson named this sparrow for Savannah, Georgia, where he saw one.
In spring, Savannah Sparrows migrate north from the southern U.S. and Mexico to open agricultural fields, meadows, coastal grasslands, and even tundra to breed and raise young. They nest on the ground and walk, run, or hop to catch insects and spiders.
It’s an understated bird—creamy colored with brownish streaks. But it's not just another "little brown bird.” Look closely and you can see its yellow eyebrow stripe. If you're lucky, you may even see it raise its crown feathers.
And be sure to listen for the Savannah Sparrow, in open, unmowed sections of city parks. You might mistake it for an insect.
For BirdNote.org. I’m Mary McCann.
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Credits:
Narrator: Mary McCann
Adapted from a script by Frances Wood
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Call of the Savannah Sparrow provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. ML 137843 recorded by G. Vyn.
© 2007 / 2020 BirdNote July 2020