Lapland Longspur – Canyon County, Idaho

This afternoon while out searching for Long-billed Curlew nests in the ACEC near Middleton, Idaho I spotted a male Lapland Longspur foraging. Anna Fasoli, Heidi Ware, Oly Olson, and myself were ‘rope-dragging’ to try to flush a curlew off a nest and a dark sparrow-sized bird flushed ahead of me. The bird’s dark color and white-edged tail stood out to me, so I got in it my binoculars and thats when I noticed the chestnut-colored neck of the bird. I told everyone to stop dragging and move in to get a better look at the bird. We quickly refound the bird and it was an adult female Lapland Longspur. I ran back to the truck to grab my camera while the others stayed with the bird. Luckily, I was able to get back with my camera and the bird had not flown. The longspur let me get fairly close and I was able to get the photos below. Lapland Longspurs are and uncommon winter visitor to Idaho and almost never seen during spring or summer.

Lapland Longspur - female (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Lapland Longspur - female (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Lapland Longspur - female (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Lapland Longspur - female (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)