Ammodramus savannarum

The grasshopper sparrow is a small (5-inch) songbird named for its insectlike trilling song, as well as its diet. The song is a high-toned two notes followed by a long insect-quality buzzing.

It eats insects, primarily grasshoppers. The sparrows shake the legs off grasshoppers to make it easier for their chicks to eat the insects.

Grasshopper sparrows have a confined range in Utah. Two of the best locations to find them are on the road toward Fielding-Garr Ranch on Antelope Island State Park and behind the Nucor Steel plant in Plymouth. Look for them in open grasslands.

Grasshopper sparrows often will run rather than fly. They are brownish overall, with buffy plain breasts. Their crown is dark and has a pale middle stripe. Their large head appears flat and their tail is short.

Their back has black-and-chestnut streaks. The birds also feature yellow lores above the eyes and show yellow at the bend of the wing.

The female incubates three to six eggs in a nest built from grasses under a small dome on the ground. Both parents will feed the young, which fledge from the nest within nine days.

Grasshopper sparrows are neotropical migrants wintering in Mexico. Nesting birds range primarily east of the Mississippi from southern Canada to Texas and the Carolinas.

A small population breeds in Utah and north into Idaho, with another population along the California coast.

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Bill Fenimore is owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center (www.wildbird.com/layton) and author of "Backyard Birds of Utah."