Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Lapland Longspur!

After classes this afternoon, Nate Fronk and I decided to check for a Common Redpoll that was reported in the area early this morning. We struck out on that bird, so we decided to do some field birding. We were hoping that the bad weather would put some good field birds down. We did not find any birds on Tusseyville Rd., but we did come across a massive flock of Horned Larks on Williams Rd. The flock contained around 300 individuals. We were scanning the flock for Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings, when I said, "hey I think I have something." Nate then got his binoculars on the bird and we both decided that it was a Lapland Longspur. At this time, the snow was picking up and the flock flew further down the field so we were unable to scan for anything else. The longspur was a life bird for me and number 54 for the year!

Lapland Longspur (Credit: 1000 birds)

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