The Lapland longspur (''Calcarius lapponicus''), also known as the Lapland bunting, is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the

longspur 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 pl ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Calcariidae, a group separated by most modern authors from the Fringillidae (Old World

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

es).

Taxonomy

The Lapland longspur was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in the

tenth edition Tenth may refer to: Numbers * 10th, the ordinal form of the number ten * One tenth, , or 0.1, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts. ** the SI prefix deci- ** tithe, a one-tenth part of something * 1/10 of any unit of me ...

of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. He placed it with the finches in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Fringilla The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae. Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 1 ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Fringilla lapponica''. The Lapland longspur is now one of three longspurs placed in the genus '' Calcarius'' that was introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist

Johann Matthäus Bechstein Johann Matthäus Bechstein (11 July 1757 – 23 February 1822) was a German naturalist, forester, ornithologist, entomologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. In Great Britain, he was known for his treatise on singing birds (''Naturgeschichte der ...

. The English name refers to the long hind claws. The genus name ''Calcarius'' is from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''calcaria'', "spurs", and the specific ''lapponicus'' refers to Lapland. Five

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''C. l. subcalcaratus'' ( Brehm, CL, 1826) – north Canada and Greenland * ''C. l. lapponicus'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758) – north Europe and north Asia * ''C. l. kamtschaticus''

Portenko Leonid Oleksandrovych Portenko (; 11 October 1896 – 26 May 1972) was a Soviet ornithologist of Ukrainian origin who carried out extensive zoogeographic studies on the birds of the northern and north-eastern Palearctic realm. He was born in Smil ...

, 1937 – northeast Siberia * ''C. l. alascensis'' Ridgway, 1898 – extreme east Siberia, Alaska and northwest Canada * ''C. l. coloratus'' Ridgway, 1898 –

Commander Islands The Commander Islands, Komandorski Islands, or Komandorskie Islands (, ''Komandorskiye ostrova'') are a series of islands in the Russian Far East, a part of the Aleutian Islands, located about east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. ...

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: * 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

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. This is the only

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of the

buntings, and while it probably did not evolve there, it has been present in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

for at least about 30,000 years.

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

The Lapland longspur is a ground-nesting bird, preferring to build its cup nest on heavily-vegetated slopes or among tussocks in low-lying wet areas. They lay, on average, 5 eggs per brood. It breeds in wet tundra, riparian areas, and marshes.

Wintering

During the winter, these birds are commonly found across the Great Plains and northeast of the United States, as well as southern Canada, where they can typically be seen foraging in agricultural fields. Lapland longspurs often form

mixed-species flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

s in winter, where they are regularly accompanied by

horned lark The horned lark or shore lark (''Eremophila alpestris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found across the northern hemisphere. It is known as "horned lark" in North America and "shore lark" in Europe. Taxonomy The horned lark was Sp ...

s and

snow bunting The snow bunting (''Plectrophenax nivalis'') 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 ...

Hybridization

In 2011, a male Lapland longspur × snow bunting hybrid was identified in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Food habits

The food habits of the Lapland longspur are quite simple: mostly seeds in winter and arthropods in the summer, when they are in activity. 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. 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. 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. Dipteran larvae and adults form the major part of their insectivorous diet.

Gallery

Calcarius lapponicus (female) 1996-07-25.jpg, Female Long2 (8330633934).jpg, Flock Calcarius lapponicus m.jpg, Illustration Calcarius lapponicus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.218 Ikamiut.jpg, Eggs

References

External links

*
Lapland Longspur Species Account
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology

- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter * * (for Canada) with Circumpolar Range-Map at bird-stamps.org *
Lapland Longspur images
a
Oriental Bird Images - A Database of the Oriental Bird Club
(see pulldown menu at page bottom) * {{Authority control

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

Birds of the Arctic Birds of Scandinavia Holarctic birds

Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus