Smith's Longspur Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small but somewhat plump songbird with a short, notched tail, and a fairly slight but long, sharply pointed, conical bill.

  Relative Size

  Slightly larger than a Savannah Sparrow, smaller than a Snow Bunting.

  between sparrow and robin

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 5.9-6.7 in (15-17 cm)
    • Weight: 0.7-1.1 oz (20-32 g)

  © Luke Seitz / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Breeding males are mostly rich caramel with bold black-and-white stripes on the face. The back and wings are streaked brown and buff, with a white mark at the shoulder. Breeding females have a similar but much less distinct head pattern and are buffy below rather than rich caramel. Nonbreeders and immatures have fine brown streaks on buffy underparts and often show a thin white eyering. The tail is black with white outer tail feathers.

• Behavior

  Searches for seeds and insects by walking on the ground; occasionally gleans insects from taller vegetation, strips seedheads, or chases insects in flight. Typically stays alone or in pairs when nesting; forms flocks in migration and winter.
• Habitat

  Nests at the southern edge of tundra, where the boreal forest gives way to scattered dwarf trees (spruce, birch, tamarack), dwarf willows, and shrubs amid open tundra. Winters on open grasslands, airport fields, farmlands, and grazed pastures, often near water. Migrants usually appear in flat grassy areas that lack trees or shrubs.