Savannah Sparrows – a Bug’s Worst Enemy

On a recent camping trip to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge a rustic old fence near where we camped was the staging area for several hunting Savannah Sparrows.   They obviously had nests in the grass nearby and would regularly perch on the fence with prey in their beaks after hunting deep in the grasses. 

   

Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Boy, did they eat a lot of bugs!  Most any kind of Arthropod seemed to be an acceptable part of their diet but this critter was one of their favorites.  I believe it to be a dragonfly larvae.

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, EV +0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

When they returned to the fence line they would often have multiple prey in their beaks.  I expected them to either immediately consume it or deliver it to the nest but that seldom happened.  Instead they would typically hang around on the fence for extended periods of time with the prey still in their beaks – often for 10 minutes or more before eating it or flying off to their nest with it.  I can’t explain the behavior but I’m certainly not complaining about it because that little behavioral quirk gave me many opportunities to photograph them with their bills full of interesting tidbits.

  

 

Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Their diet wasn’t limited to insects either, as it wasn’t unusual to see them with spiders. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

At times they crammed so many goodies between their mandibles that I’d miss the shot because of laughing at their comical appearance.  These birds almost never stood still – they were running up and down the fence line and hopping in every unpredictable direction, so keeping them in focus and in frame was a huge challenge.  Laughter on my part certainly didn’t help the situation…

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

I thought a crane fly (mosquito hawk) made for an interesting mouthful in this shot because of all those very long legs. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

When I saw this bird with this very large dragonfly larvae I really hoped the sparrow would try to eat it in front of me since the species almost always swallows its prey whole rather than tearing it into pieces and I’d have loved to have been able to get some shots of it trying to swallow such a huge meal.  But alas, the sparrow flew off with it into the grass. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This spider caught my attention since it appears to be a gravid female. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

So I had to get a better look at it with this close-up. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

These birds would often have various types of debris in their bills, along with the food, when they returned to the fence – grass stems, twigs etc.  This time it was a flower petal (there were lots of yellow flowers in the immediate vicinity) which I thought made for an interesting image. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This was one of the very few times one of these sparrows stopped moving at high-speed.  It stood in the same spot on the fence for several minutes and gave me a nice wing and leg stretch – perhaps it was tired after eating so much.

This experience at Red Rocks was the first time I’ve been able to get this close to the species and I really enjoyed watching and photographing their feeding behaviors over several days.

Ron