Lapland longspur

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Lapland longspur
Male

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Calcariidae
Genus: Calcarius
Species:
C. lapponicus
Binomial name
Calcarius lapponicus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms

Fringilla lapponica Linnaeus, 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).

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]

  • Length: 5.9-6.3 in (15-16 cm)
  • Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22.3-33.1 g)
  • Wingspan: 8.7-11.4 in (22-29 cm)

Distribution and habitat

It breeds across Arctic

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

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

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]

Gallery

  • Female
    Female
  • Flock
    Flock
  • Illustration
    Illustration
  • Eggs
    Eggs

References

  1. 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. 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. doi:10.3409/173491505783995743
    .
  6. ^ a b 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. JSTOR 1551091
    .
  9. JSTOR 1368039
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calcarius lapponicus.
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