Smith's Longspur
Calcarius pictus
Sparrowlike ground dweller; crouches low to the ground and walks with pattering footsteps. Breeding male is a unique deep yellow-orange with black-and-white head pattern. Females and nonbreeding birds are more subtle but typically buffier than other longspurs. Also look for long wingtips, thin white eyering, and blurry streaks below. Breeds on Arctic tundra. In winter, look for small flocks in fields with short grass and exposed soil. Not found in mixed flocks. Rattle call similar to Lapland Longspur.
Identification
These birds have short cone-shaped bills, streaked backs, and dark tails with white outer rectrices. In breeding state plumage (mostly formed by worn basic plumage), the male has a pumpkin-orange throat, nape, and underparts contrasting with an intricate black-and-white face pattern. The white lesser coverts are quite pronounced on a male in spring and early summer. Females and immatures have lightly streaked buffy underparts, dark crowns, brown wings with less obvious white lesser coverts, and a light-colored face. The tail is identical at all ages.<p>Measurements:
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Calcarius pictus
- Authority
- (Swainson, 1832)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Calcariidae
- Genus
- Calcarius
Range and habitat
This bird breeds in open grassy areas near the tree line in northern Canada and Alaska. In winter, they congregate in open fields, including airports, in the south-central United States. Migration is elliptical, with northbound birds staging in Illinois in the spring and southbound birds flying over the Great Plains in the fall.
- Breeding range
- NA : n Alaska and Canada; se Alaska and w Canada
- Non-breeding range
- sc USA
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
These birds nest in small colonies; males do not defend territory. The female lays three to five eggs in a grass cup nest on the ground. Both males and females may have more than one mate (polygynandry). The parents, one female and possibly more than one male, feed the young birds.<p>These birds forage on the ground, gathering in flocks outside of the nesting season. They mainly eat seeds, also eating insects in summer. Young birds are mainly fed insects.<p>The song is a sweet warble that is inflected at the end, somewhat reminiscent of the chestnut-sided warbler. The call is a dry rattle, like a shortened version of the call of a female brown-headed cowbird, noticeably drier than that of Lapland longspur.<p>Audubon named this bird after his friend Gideon B. Smith.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Rufous-sided Crake
Laterallus melanophaius
Often common, but usually hard to see. Best detected by voice, a very long explosive trill. The plumage is olive-brown above with rufous face and sides, and striking black-and-white bars on the flank and vent. Similar to Red-and-white Crake, which lacks the dark cap. Found in damp grasslands, extensive wetlands, and sometimes rank pastures.
Pantepui Thrush
Turdus murinus
A drab thrush, found only in tepuis. Nondescript grayish-brown with a pale whitish belly. Note pale throat with indistinct streaking. Sexes similar. Usually seen singly or in pairs. Song is a typical thrushlike series of musical phrases. Similar to Campina Thrush but separated by browner body, weaker throat pattern, and different habitat.
Tiny Tyrant-Manakin
Tyranneutes virescens
Tiny, short-tailed denizen of tall rainforest; common, but heard far more often than seen. Virtually devoid of good field marks, since male’s yellow crown patch is rarely seen from below. Best located by tracking down singing males on song perches below the canopy, where they sit motionless for long periods, repeating their distinctive song.
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