Savannah Sparrow

About the Savannah Sparrow

A small, crisply streaked brown sparrow of open ground, with a short notched tail, a pale central crown stripe, and - on most birds - a wash of yellow in front of the eye that is the single most useful mark. The breast streaking often converges into a small dark central spot. It is a plain bird, but a tidy one, and the streaking is sharper and finer than on the Song Sparrows it often shares fields with.

Savannah Sparrows live on the ground in grass. They run through cover like mice rather than flying, and when finally flushed they go up briefly, fly a short distance low and jerkily, and drop back in. Getting a good look usually means waiting for one to hop up onto a fence wire or a weed stalk.

The song, heard on the breeding grounds far to the north, is an insect-like series of light notes ending in a thin buzzy trill - more grasshopper than songbird.

They breed across the northern half of the continent and pour south for winter. In Texas they are among the most abundant winter sparrows, filling weedy fields, coastal prairie, and roadside grass from October to April, and a single field can hold dozens. The name has nothing to do with grassland savanna - it comes from Savannah, Georgia, where the species was first described.