![\"savannah-sparrow-5781\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/savannah-sparrow-5781.jpg\" "\\"savannah-sparrow-5781\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nCanon 7D, 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Boy, did they eat a lot of bugs!\u00a0 Most any kind of Arthropod seemed to be an acceptable part of their diet but this critter was one of their favorites.\u00a0 I believe it to be a dragonfly larvae.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 640, EV +0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n When they returned to the fence line they would often have multiple prey in their beaks.\u00a0 I expected them to either immediately consume it or deliver it to the nest but that seldom happened.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Their diet wasn’t limited to insects either, as it wasn’t unusual to see them with spiders.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n At times they crammed so many goodies between their mandibles that I’d miss the shot because of laughing at their comical appearance.\u00a0 These birds almost never stood still – they were running up and down the fence line and\u00a0hopping in every unpredictable direction, so keeping them in focus and in frame was a huge challenge.\u00a0 Laughter on my part certainly didn’t help the situation…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, EV -0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n I thought a crane fly (mosquito hawk) made for an interesting mouthful in this shot because of all those very long legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n 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\u00a0get some shots of it trying to swallow such a huge meal.\u00a0 But alas, the sparrow flew off with it into the grass.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/8, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n This spider caught my attention since it appears to be a gravid female.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/8, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n So I had to get a better look at it with this close-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n