Chestnut-collared Longspur
Calcarius ornatus
Sparrowlike ground-dweller; crouches low to the ground and walks with pattering footsteps. Breeding male shows beautiful chestnut nape, black-and-white head stripes, yellowish throat, and black belly. Females and nonbreeding birds are much more subtle. Tan overall with washed out face pattern, a slightly warmer nape, and indistinct streaks below. With a good view, look for shorter wingtips than other longspurs. In flight, note extensive white on edges of tail. Often found in flocks, sometimes mixed other longspurs. Breeds in grassy prairies, where males give a complex descending song. Winters in fields with short grass.
Identification
These birds have a short conical bill, a streaked back and a white tail with a dark tip. In breeding plumage, the male has black underparts, a chestnut nape, a yellow throat and a black crown. Other birds have light brown underparts, a dark crown, brown wings and may have some chestnut on the nape.<p>Measurements:
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Calcarius ornatus
- Authority
- (Townsend, JK, 1837)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Calcariidae
- Genus
- Calcarius
Range and habitat
This bird breeds in short and mixed grass prairies in central Canada and the north central United States. In winter, they migrate in flocks to prairies and open fields in the southern United States and Mexico. Like other prairie birds, they have disappeared from some areas because of habitat loss but are still fairly common.<p>Controlled burns may benefit this species as they feed on low-growing plants that are more easily spotted after a fire.
- Breeding range
- NA : sc Canada and nc USA
- Non-breeding range
- to Mexico
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
These birds forage on the ground, gathering in flocks in winter. They mainly eat seeds, also eating insects in summer. Young birds are mainly fed insects.<p>The female lays 4 or 5 eggs in a grass cup nest in a shallow scrape on the ground. The male sings and flies up to defend his territory. Both parents feed the young birds.<p>The call is a two-syllabled chee dee.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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The only weaver on Príncipe, where it is endemic. Typically yellowish with an olive back: male has a golden-orange wash to the head, while female has a plainer face and a white belly. Juvenile is like the female, but duller. Found in pairs and small groups; abundant in almost all habitats on the island. Song is an accelerated fizzling concluding with a wheeze: “pssht-pssht-pshhtt-dzrrt-dzrrt-dzt-dzt-dzr-dzr-dzr-dzr-dzr.”
Rufous Bristlebird
Dasyornis broadbenti
A skulking red-brown bird with a long tail that has a rough uneven tip. Upperparts rich reddish brown, especially wings and crown, underparts gray-brown with speckling. Obvious pale eyering, lores, and moustachial marks. Feeds on the ground in dense coastal shrubland and heathland, runs rapidly with head down. Calls include a gentle series of repeated thin clear "chit" notes followed by a slurred whistled phrase.
Siberian Crane
Leucogeranus leucogeranus
Rare and declining, but still fairly abundant at its main wintering grounds at Poyang Lake, in China’s Jiangxi Province. Adult is unmistakable with all-white plumage, save for a crimson face and black wingtips. Juveniles are whitish, with a light brown head, neck, back, and wings. Typically found around lake edges and fields, where it forages in small to medium-sized groups, primarily for plant matter and invertebrates.
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