Lapland Longspurs, Kit Carson County

[Tom Wilberding]

Barb and headed east to the prairie today, to find and photograph Lapland Longspurs, as Mark and Glenn did, per Glenn’s January 6 post to CFO Facebook. But instead of their 675,000, we managed to see ONE. But glad we didn’t dip.

This eBird Occurrence Map seems to indicate that the best time to see Lapland Longspur in Colorado is November. By January they fade fast. (Wait for the map to cycle through the months): http://ebird.org/content/ebird/occurrence/lapland-longspur/
I think Mark and Glenn witnessed a huge exodus.


Some beautiful writing about Lapland Longspurs, from the 2002 book, Land of Grass and Sky, by Colorado’s Mary Taylor Young:

“Two other longspur species, the Chestnut-collared and the McCown’s, call the Colorado prairie home. These birds, more southerly in their range and less intrepid perhaps than the Arctic-nesting Lapland, visit primarily in summer. Only the Laplander, a bird of the polar north, considers the shortgrass a milder winter environment. At home in open and treeless lands, Lapland Longspurs migrate in fall 2,500 miles south to pass the winter on our hard prairie.

“……Why do Lapland Longspurs choose to pass winter here, on the prairie? Why don’t they migrate further south, to warmer places? Why does the rancher stay on in this land of extremes? These small drab birds find what they need in this hard land, making their living on the open country just as the rancher who calls these prairies his own. Kindred spirits share this prairie. For the Longspurs as much as for the rancher, it still comes down to what the prairie will give.”

 

Cheers,

Tom Wilberding

Littleton, CO

 

[Mark Peterson]

COBirders,

I think the secret to seeing the mass of Lapland Longspurs is to be out during the snow storms.  A few of us have been out in Kit Carson for a couple of months and finding large flocks on days without bad weather does happen of course but they are at best just large flocks.  Yesterday I was out almost all day and checking the known good areas when I could and had almost zero birds even though it was stormy.  The difference though was that yesterday it was rain/ice almost all day which seem to ground all the field birds.

Now, fast forward to today.  Today it was 20+ MPH winds and snow most of the day.  The MASS of birds were back.

Glenn and I got to sit and watch this event for an extended period of time.  The area we watched today was 4 times larger than the one from last week.  I have posted another video from today that just shows the first layer of birds and near the 2:45 mark you can see a second layer and maybe the best part of the video.  The thing that we cannot capture is that this video only shows about a quarter mile deep worth of birds.  There are multiple layers of birds that span across a couple of miles.  So just imagine swarms of birds all over roughly a couple of square miles.  Our estimated numbers from today were as follows:

575,000 Horned Lark

1,250,000 Lapland Longspurs

Here is a the video that shows a small fraction of the total birds.  Again, if you watch the video but are impatient, jump to roughly the 2:45 mark.  I took this video while driving almost two miles, it is just a bit shaky ;) but I don't think it should make anyone sick.

https://youtu.be/WURlpcWPnug

If you are interested in trying to see these birds I would recommend coming tomorrow if at all possible but do not expect these numbers as it is supposed to be nice but with the bit of snow on the ground there should still be decent numbers.  Otherwise, watch the weather for out here and when you see snow, not rain, in the forecast come out and see what you can see.

The location of the flock today was along Kit Carson county road G roughly between CR 9 and where CR 7 would be if it were there.  Also, if you come, look at this field carefully as it is this type of field that the birds tend to like best.  So you could then drive back west into Lincoln county and probably find the same thing.

Good birding!

 

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Mark Peterson
Colorado Springs