Sprague's Pipit
Anthus spragueii
Buffy songbird that often stays hidden among grasses except when singing. Breeds on grassy prairies; winters in similar open habitats farther south. Difficult to spot unless flushed; usually alone or in loose flocks. Generally plain tan without many distinguishing features. Look for plain face with a big, black eye, indistinct streaks on chest, and pink legs. In flight, white outer tail feathers are visible. Does not bob tail like American Pipit. Beautiful display song given from high in the sky; sounds like a cascading waterfall of tiny pebbles. Harsh, squeaky call note is often the best way to detect them as they fly over.
Identification
Measurements:
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Anthus spragueii
- Authority
- (Audubon, 1844)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Anthus
Range and habitat
Found in mixed or short grass prairie throughout the central northern Great Plains of North America. In Canada, Sprague's pipit breed in southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southwest Manitoba. In the United States, they breed in northeastern and central Montana, western and central North Dakota, northwest South Dakota, and in the Red River Valley of Minnesota.<p>Sprague's pipits winter in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the United States it occurs from southern California (casually), south-central and southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, central and eastern Texas, occasionally found in southern Kansas, southern Oklahoma, very rarely in southern Missouri, Tennessee and northwestern Mississippi south through Arkansas and Louisiana. In October 2016, an individual was found in Connecticut for the first time, suggesting that they could be vagrants to other places as well. In Mexico it is found in the interior from northeastern Sonora and Nuevo Leon south to Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi and along the Atlantic Coast from Tamaulipas to central Veracruz. It is uncommon in the Central Volcanic belt, rare in west Tobasco and a vagrant to s Guerrero (Howell and Webb 1995).
- Breeding range
- NA : sc Canada and nc USA
- Non-breeding range
- s USA and Mexico
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Sprague's pipits were listed in 1999 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlifein Canada (COSEWIC) [1] as “threatened”; the status was re-examined and confirmed in May 2000. Sprague's pipits were officially listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) as “threatened” on 5 June 2003 (Jones 2010). In the United States, Sprague's pipits are a candidate for listing as “endangered” or “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; however, listing Sprague's pipits is precluded by higher listing priorities.<p>They breed in habitat with minimal human disturbance, such as grazing, haying or other human development. Sprague's pipit is a ground nesting passerine and standing dead vegetation is used to build the canopy over the nest.<p>Breeding begins as early as late April and continues until mid to late August. Nests are a small cup of grass found on the ground with standing dead vegetation folded over to create a canopy. There is a single entrance to the nest. Four to six eggs are typically laid within the nests with an average incubation time of 13–14 days.<p>Renesting and second broods have been occasionally documented for Sprague's pipit, as has polygyny; however, they are predominantly single-brooded (Jones et al. 2010).<p>Sprague's pipits eat various insects, spiders, and sometimes seeds. During the breeding season, the adults are almost entirely insectivorous and feed the young on insects as well.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Planalto Hermit
Phaethornis pretrei
Large hummingbird with an olive-green back contrasting with its cinnamon rump and belly. Note slightly curved bill with a red lower mandible and prominent dark mask. The tail is long with eye-catching white tips. Avoids forests; found in grasslands, shrubby areas, wooded savannas, and at forest edges.
Brown-eared Woodpecker
Pardipicus caroli
Dark, medium-sized woodpecker of humid forest. Mostly dark olive-green, with a large and distinctive glossy-brown ear patch. The underparts are heavily marked with yellowish spots. Males have a small red patch on the back of the head. Birds in most of the range have bronzy tones to the back, while i n the western part of the range the back is more greenish. Found in rainforest, gallery forest, and lush secondary habitat at low and middle elevations. The most distinctive call is a very long whistle that rises then fall. Also gives a plaintive rattling call and a slightly tapering drum. Similar to Buff-spotted Woodpecker, but larger, and with a dark cheek patch.
Common Scimitarbill
Rhinopomastus cyanomelas
An elongated matte-black bird with black legs and a slender, strongly-decurved black bill. Females and juveniles are browner on the front. In flight it has white tail tips and a single band of white towards the end of the wing. Avoids forest; singles or pairs are found in arid and broadleaved woodland, where they are found clambering around on trunks, probing for invertebrates, and often joining mixed-species flocks. It is most easily detected by its plaintive, whistled, three-noted “wheeep, wheeep, wheeep” call. The very similar Black Scimitarbill differs from tby having a shorter, less decurved bill and a shorter tail. Abyssinian Scimitarbill has an orange bill. Woodhoopoes are larger, with chunkier reddish bill, more social habits, and glossy iridescent plumage.
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