Calcarius pictus
male
From Alamy: Glenn Bartley/All Canada Photos/Alamy Stock Photo: Smith’s Longspur.
All Smith’s Longspurs have orange-buff underparts but only the summer male is distinctive. The sexes are dissimilar. Adult summer males have a streaked brown back and brown wings with two white wingbars and a white “shoulder” patch. The head has striking markings, with a white supercilium, lores, and ear patch on an otherwise black cap. The neck, throat, and rest of the underparts are orange-buff. Birds in all other plumages are similar to a breeding male but have subdued colors and markings, the black elements of the head pattern being replaced by streaked brown, and white replaced by buff; the white “shoulder” patch is absent.
Smith’s Longspur is present as a breeding species on northern tundra, mainly from June to August. Outside the breeding season it forms flocks and migrates south, wintering in a localized region of short grassland from Iowa to Texas. Although it lives in open habitats, it is hard to locate since it creeps around in cover and only reluctantly ventures out.
FACT FILE
LENGTH 6.25 in (16 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates in summer; seeds at other times
HABITAT Tundra in summer; grassland at other times
STATUS Widespread but scarce summer visitor; very local in winter
VOICE Song comprises whistling warbled phrases. Call is a dry rattle, given in flight
