Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)
Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist
Grasshopper Sparrow

Family Passerellidae

Grasshopper Sparrow

Ammodramus savannarum

In Spanish: Sabanero Colicorto

  • Resident

A buzzing, mouse-like grassland sparrow, resident in the northwest and a winter visitor.

The Grasshopper Sparrow, Sabanero Colicorto in Spanish, is a small grassland bird that sounds more like an insect than a songbird. In Costa Rica it is both a resident in the northwest and a migrant from the north.

It is a bird for patient birders who like open pasture and grassy fields. Learn its buzzing song first and you give yourself a real chance of finding it.

How to find it

Learn the buzzing song first, then scan for a small round bird perched a little below the top of a grass stalk. Males are easiest to detect when they sing to hold territory. A birder found one on a side road off open farmland near Ceiba Road, Orotina, in the northern winter, and got close looks.

How to recognise it

This is a small, round sparrow with a pale buff breast that has no streaks. It looks big-headed and large-billed, especially next to a Savannah Sparrow, which has a streaked breast and yellow in front of the eye. Its pale brown colour blends easily into dry brown grass, so it vanishes quickly. When it is not singing it sticks to clumps of grass and is nearly impossible to find. Look for a small round bird sitting a little below the top of a grass stalk, often fluttering its wings.

What it sounds like

0:23

Recording: polichara, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Away from song, it runs along the ground like a mouse and keeps to clumps of grass. A singing male perches on an exposed spot, throws his head back and delivers the buzz, so on a fence wire or weed stalk he is briefly easy to see. It is a weak flier and stays put, which gives you time to find it. Males also have a second, squeaky and musical song, often given in flight.

Where it lives

The Grasshopper Sparrow lives in grasslands and open country, and sometimes uses crop fields. In Costa Rica, resident birds occur in the northwest, with Guanacaste given as a location. Wintering northern birds are reported in small numbers in the Central Valley, thinly spread over pasture and grassy fields. Across its range it avoids trees and shrubs and prefers large open grassland.

Similar birds

The Savannah Sparrow is the bird most likely to cause confusion. Check the breast: the Grasshopper Sparrow's is pale buff and unstreaked, and it has no yellow in front of the eye.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican name is Sabanero Colicorto. An older Costa Rican checklist gives Sabanero colirojo, and other Spanish names listed for this sparrow include chamberguito, tumbarrocío and gorrión chicharra.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it R,M: a resident in northwestern Costa Rica and also a migrant from the north.

Photography tips

Its pale brown colour blends into dry brown grass, so it vanishes quickly. Aim for the moments when a male sings from a fence wire or weed stalk, when he is briefly easy to see.

How we know this 14 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Birds of the World (Cornell) read 2026-11-04https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/graspa/cur/systematics
  2. NatureServe Explorer read 2026-11-04https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100347/Ammodramus_savannarum
  3. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper_sparrow
  4. PLOS ONE (via PubMed Central) read 2026-11-04https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5738127/
  5. Cornell Lab, All About Birds read 2026-11-04https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Grasshopper_Sparrow/sounds
  6. Cornell Lab of Ornithology read 2026-11-04https://www.birds.cornell.edu/landtrust/grasshopper-sparrow-grsp/
  7. Revista de Biología Tropical (SciELO Costa Rica) read 2026-11-04https://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442001000200033
  8. Cornell Lab, All About Birds read 2026-11-04https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Grasshopper_Sparrow/overview
  9. Kern Audubon Society read 2026-11-04https://www.kernaudubonsociety.org/bird-of-the-week-grasshopper-sparrow/
  10. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency read 2026-11-04https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/birds/grassland-and-shrub-birds/grasshopper-sparrow.html
  11. Animalia.bio (Spanish) read 2026-11-04https://animalia.bio/index.php/es/grasshopper-sparrow
  12. Ecosistemas de Costa Rica read 2026-11-04https://ecosistemasdecostarica.blogspot.com/2012/08/aves.html
  13. Free Online Library (Nicaragua study) read 2026-11-04https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Distribution,+habitat+and+behavior+of+grasshopper+sparrows,+Ammodramus...-a0109180294
  14. Birdingcraft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2021/01/26/a-day-of-productive-birding-in-costa-rica/