Lapland longspur

Last updated

Lapland longspur
Lapland Longspur - Calcarius lapponicus - Sportittlingur 1.jpg
Male
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Calcariidae
Genus: Calcarius
Species:
C. lapponicus
Binomial name
Calcarius lapponicus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Calcarius lapponicus map.svg
Synonyms

Fringilla lapponicaLinnaeus, 1758

Calcarius lapponicus

The Lapland longspur (Calcarius lapponicus), also known as the Lapland bunting, is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae, a group separated by most modern authors from the Fringillidae (Old World finches).

Contents

Etymology

The English name refers to the long hind claws. [2] The genus name Calcarius is from Latin calcaria, "spurs", and the specific lapponicus refers to Lapland. [3]

Description

The Lapland longspur is a robust bird, with a thick yellow seed-eater's bill. The summer male has a black head and throat, white eyestripe, chestnut nape, white underparts, and a heavily streaked black-grey back. Other plumages have a plainer orange-brown head, a browner back and chestnut nape and wing panels.

Measurements: [4]

Distribution and habitat

It breeds across Arctic Europe and the Palearctic and in Canada and the northernmost United States. It is migratory, wintering in the Russian steppes, the southern United States, Northern Scandinavian arctic areas and down to coastal Southern Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain. This is the only Asian species of the longspur buntings, and while it probably did not evolve there, it has been present in Eastern Europe for at least about 30,000 years. [5]

Behaviour

Call

The most common flight call is a hard "prrrrt" usually preceded by a more nasal "teeww". When breeding, it also makes a softer "duyyeee" followed by a pause and a "triiiuuu"; both sounds alternate.

Breeding

It breeds in wet areas with birch or willow, and or bare mountains, and winters on cultivated land or coasts. The bird is often seen close to the tree line, and likes to feed in mixed-species flocks in winter. Its natural food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds. The nest is on the ground. 2–4 eggs are laid.

Food habits

Sitting on a dead cow parsnip, Buldir Island, Alaska Lapland longspur on Buldir Island.jpg
Sitting on a dead cow parsnip, Buldir Island, Alaska

The food habits of the Lapland longspur are quite simple: mostly seeds in winter and arthropods in the summer, when they are in activity. [6]

During the winter, the longspur feeds on seeds. They pick them on the ground, rarely feeding directly on plants. They will forage around the same area for a period varying between a few minutes and an hour, then fly away looking for a new foraging area. Their seed diet is composed mainly of seeds from grass, foxtail, cultivated millet, crabgrass and wheat. [6] During the breeding season, the birds migrate to the north, where their diet switches to arthropods. Nestlings are only fed arthropods, which also constitute the diet of the parents at that time of the year (June to July). The birds often catch insects in mid-air, but do forage through vegetation when climatic conditions prevent the insects from flying. [7] Longspurs can consume between 3000 and 10,000 prey items (insects or seeds) per day, depending on their energy needs ; they may need to increase this number by 3000 when feeding the young. [8] Dipteran larvae and adults form the major part of their insectivorous diet. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow bunting</span> Species of bird

The snow bunting is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high mountain tops south of the Arctic region, including the Cairngorms in central Scotland and the Saint Elias Mountains on the southern Alaska-Yukon border, as well as the Cape Breton Highlands. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-billed dowitcher</span> Species of bird

The long-billed dowitcher is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a beautiful rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight. They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and are known to have an exciting mating display where males chase females in flight. The genus, Limnodromus is Ancient Greek from limne, "marsh" and dromos, "racer". The specific scolopaceus is Neo-Latin for "snipe-like", from Latin scolopax, scolopacis, a snipe or woodcock. The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirl bunting</span> Species of bird

The cirl bunting, , is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray-crowned rosy finch</span> Species of bird

The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen. There are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-breasted nuthatch</span> Species of bird

The white-breasted nuthatch is a species of bird in the nuthatch family Sittidae. It is a medium-sized nuthatch, measuring approximately 15.5 cm (6.1 in) in length. Coloration varies somewhat along the species' range, but the upperparts are light blue-gray, with a black crown and nape in males, while females have a dark gray crown. The underparts are whitish, with a reddish tinge on the lower abdomen. Despite not being closely related, the white-breasted nuthatch and the white wagtail are very similar in plumage. The white-breasted nuthatch is a noisy bird. It has a nasal voice and often utters little cries or vocalizations, often composed of repetitions of small invariant whistles. In summer, it is an exclusively insectivorous bird, consuming a wide range of arthropods, but in winter its diet consists mainly of seeds. The nest is located in the cavity of a tree. The clutch consists of five to nine eggs, incubated for two weeks by the female, who is fed by the male. The two adults then feed the young until they fledge, and for a few weeks after that.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay-breasted warbler</span> Species of bird

The bay-breasted warbler is a small species of songbird in the New World warbler family, Parulidae. It is one of thirty-four species in the diverse genus Setophaga. Like all songbirds, or passerines, the species is classified in the order Passeriformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-headed bunting</span> Species of bird

The black-headed bunting is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae. It breeds in south-east Europe east to Iran and migrates in winter mainly to India, with some individuals moving further into south-east Asia. Like others in its family, it is found in open grassland habitats where they fly in flocks in search of grains and seed. Adult males are well marked with yellow underparts, chestnut back and a black head. Adult females in breeding plumage look like duller males. In other plumages, they can be hard to separate from the closely related red-headed bunting and natural hybridization occurs between the two species in the zone of overlap of their breeding ranges in northern Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longspur</span> Genus of birds

The longspurs, genus Calcarius, are a group of birds in the family Calcariidae. The name refers to the long claw on the hind toe of each foot. The genus formerly included the thick-billed longspur, Rhyncophanes mccownii, which is now placed in a separate genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lark bunting</span> Species of bird

The lark bunting is a medium-sized American sparrow native to central and western North America. It was designated the state bird of Colorado in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-collared longspur</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-collared longspur is a species of bird in the family Calcariidae. Like the other longspurs, it is a small ground-feeding bird that primarily eats seeds. It breeds in prairie habitats in Canada and the northern United States and winters to the south in the United States and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thick-billed longspur</span> Species of bird

The thick-billed longspur, formerly known as McCown's longspur, is a small ground-feeding bird in the family Calcariidae, which also contains the other longspurs and snow buntings. It is found in North America and is the only species in the genus Rhynchophanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith's longspur</span> Species of bird

Smith's longspur is a bird from the family Calcariidae, which also contains the other species of longspurs. A bird of open habitats, it breeds in northern Canada and Alaska, and winters in the southern United States. Primarily a ground-feeding seed-eater, it supplements its diet with insects in the summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McKay's bunting</span> Species of bird

McKay's bunting is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae. It is most closely related to the snow bunting. Hybrids between the two species have been observed, leading some authorities to treat McKay's as a subspecies of snow bunting. As the Plectrophenax buntings are nested within the Calcarius clade, their closest relatives are the longspurs. McKay's bunting breeds on two islands in the Bering Sea, St. Matthew and Hall islands, and winters on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris's sparrow</span> Species of bird

Harris's sparrow is a large sparrow. Their breeding habitat is the north part of central Canada, making it Canada's only endemic breeding bird. In the winter they migrate to the Great Plains states of the United States, from southern South Dakota to central Texas. The common name of this species commemorates the American amateur ornithologist Edward Harris (1799–1863).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver-throated tanager</span> Species of bird from South America

The silver-throated tanager is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and northeastern Peru. It inhabits mossy forests, montane evergreen forests, tropical lowland evergreen forests and forest edges, along with tall secondary forests and disturbed habitat with remnant trees and forest. It is 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long and weighs 22 grams (0.78 oz) on average, and shows slight sexual dimorphism, with duller female plumage. Adult males are mainly bright yellow, with a silvery-white throat bordered above with a black stripe on the cheeks, black streaking on the back, and green edges to the wings and tail. Juveniles are duller and greener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-breasted mannikin</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-breasted mannikin, also known as the chestnut-breasted munia or bully bird, is a small brown-backed munia with a black face and greyish crown and nape. It has a broad ferruginous breast bar above a white belly. The species is found in Australia, New Caledonia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. This species has also been introduced to French Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-breasted partridge</span> Species of bird

The red-breasted partridge, also known as the Bornean hill-partridge, is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is endemic to hill and montane forest in Borneo, preferring bamboos and thickets. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-striped woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

The white-striped woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut piculet</span> Species of woodpecker

The chestnut piculet is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calcariidae</span> Family of birds

Calcariidae is a small family of passerine birds. It includes longspurs and snow buntings. There are six species in three genera worldwide, found mainly in North America and Eurasia. They are migratory and can live in a variety of habitats including grasslands, prairies, tundra, mountains, and beaches.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2017). "Calcarius lapponicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22721033A111138693. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T22721033A111138693.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. "Long" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. pp.  84, 219. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. "Lapland Longspur Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  5. Tomek, Teresa; Bocheński, Zygmunt (2005). "Weichselian and Holocene bird remains from Komarowa Cave, Central Poland". Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia. Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences. 48A (1–2): 43–65. doi:10.3409/173491505783995743.
  6. 1 2 Gabrielson, Ira Noel (1924). "Food habits of some winter bird visitants". U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin (1249).
  7. Watson, Adam (1957). "Birds of the Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island". The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 71 (3): 87–109.
  8. Custer, Thomas W.; Osborn, Ronald G.; Pitelka, Frank A.; Gessaman, James A. (1986). "Energy Budget and Prey Requirements of Breeding Lapland Longspurs near Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A." Arctic and Alpine Research. 18 (4): 415–427. doi:10.2307/1551091. ISSN   0004-0851. JSTOR   1551091.
  9. Custer, Thomas W.; Pitelka, Frank A. (1978). "Seasonal trends in summer diet of the Lapland longspur near Barrow, Alaska". The Condor. 80 (3): 295–301. doi:10.2307/1368039. JSTOR   1368039.