tell it to me straight.... finding a Lapland Longspur

[ronbco]

I'm a reasonably passionate birder, but not very patient.

I saw an ebird post for a Lapland Longspur nearby my home and since it would be a lifer I went to look; no success, but again, I am not patient.

Looking at ebird stats for the area (Loveland/Longmont) it seems that sitings are not common. My general impression is that they are seen in onsey/twosey out in the middle of fields, and you need to use a scope and be patient.

The siting I was acting on yesterday had one in a flock of horned larks. When I arrived at the location, on queue, a flock of something swirled around, too far for me to id. I watched the area for about 15 min and saw very active flocks of probably horned larks and certainly meadowlarks. They would usually settle in the midst of grass that was too high to site them in.

So my questions are:

- is the above experience typical?

- are they and their friends so skittish that you will never get within 100 yds?

- if I spent say a few hours on a sunny winter day walking a field slowly might I get a good look

- are the id marks distinctive enough that I will likely feel confident?

- do they hang with meadow larks, or just horned?

Ron Bolton

Berthoud

[Diana Beatty]

Just my personal experience -a good time to look for Lapland Longspurs is when the ground is covered in snow but the dirt roads aren't - when that happens, I tend to find them along the roads/fencelines.  If the fields are open, it seems they are more likely to be off in some field where they would be harder to spot.

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

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All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

[Susan Rosine]

Haha, I'm not always patient either, so I get it.
Honest answer, these little guys can be so difficult! I usually see them with Horned Larks. If you go up to the Pawnee Grasslands you can find them NOT with larks, and in larger numbers.
I usually find them along the sides of dirt roads, either on the ground or on a fence.
They are a tough bird, so I wish you luck....and patience!
Susan Rosine
Brighton, Adams County

[Bryan Guarente]

Ron,

For any of the longspurs in winter, it is best to learn their calls and rattle calls (not their songs).  When a flock of Horned Larks takes to the air, they love to vocalize.  Same is true of the Longspurs.  The rattle calls of Longspurs are quite distinctive from Horned Larks and that is how I normally get my Longspurs in winter.  

Lapland Longspurs from Colorado:

From Nathan Pieplow:

• https://www.xeno-canto.org/17814 
• https://www.xeno-canto.org/17815
• https://www.xeno-canto.org/17816

From Sue Riffe:

• https://www.xeno-canto.org/461823
• https://www.xeno-canto.org/450539

It is worthwhile then to know what Horned Lark calls sound like too:

From Sue Riffe:

• https://www.xeno-canto.org/313073 (Ignore the Western Meadowlark Call)
  

From Ted Floyd:

• https://www.xeno-canto.org/354538 (a nice flock doing what they love to do)
  

To me that is the way to win at the Longspur game, especially in winter when your teeth are rattling like Longspur calls.  

Best of luck,

Bryan

Bryan Guarente

Meteorologist/Instructional Designer

UCAR/The COMET Program

Boulder, CO

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[ronbco]

Thanks to all for the advice!

I'll fearlessly take on the challenge this winter.

[The "Nunn Guy"]

Hi all

Find a Horned Lark flock in and around Nunn, CPER and Pawnee-West and you are sure to hear and might get lucky to see them. Last year's first Pawnee-East CBC had lots of them, more so then Pawnee-East.

Thanks, Gary Lefko, Nunn

http://www.friendsofthepawneegrassland.org

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/birds-and-more-of-the-pawnee-national-grassland

[The "Nunn Guy"]

"more so than Pawnee-West"

Thanks, Gary Lefko, Nunn

http://www.friendsofthepawneegrassland.org

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/birds-and-more-of-the-pawnee-national-grassland