IDAHO BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE
RARE BIRD REPORT FORM

SPECIES:

McCown's Longspur

HOW MANY:

1 winter plumaged female

REPORTER:

Harry Krueger

REPORTER EMAIL:

jhkrueger@gmail.com

OTHER OBSERVERS:

None of which I am aware, though I understand others did look on the 21st and thereafter.

DATE REPORT PREPARED:

8 March, 2008, although detailed notes were taken on both days of observation. (This report is a compilation of those notes.)

DATE SIGHTING OCCURRED:

20,21 January, 2008

LOCALITY OF OBSERVATION:

Poen Road, east of Swan Falls Rd., south of Kuna, Ada County, s.w. Idaho.

HABITAT:

Agricultural, stubble field

CONDITIONS:

The bird was observed twice (times separated by about an hour or so, beginning in mid-afternoon and continuing until before sundown. Full cloud cover, with no glare and negligible wind. Temperature was below freezing (high 20's). Fields were snow covered (1-2 inches), with scattered bare ground patches. Observation was accomplished primarily from within my vehicle, although I did attempt to set up my scope outside next to the car, both off the main road (Poen Road) and the farm access road to the south off Poen Road. When viewing from within the car, the vehicle acted as a blind, allowing the birds to land closer. I viewed through both my 10 x 40 Bausch and Lomb Elite binoculars and my Swarovski Habecht 80mm 20-60x spotting scope (up to 50-60 power at times). Minimum distance to the bird was approximately 80-100 feet. It was associating with at least 1000 Horned Lark and 120 Lapland Longspur, all birds generally staying together in one flock, but with frequent flight and swirling. On 21 Jan. the bird was again seen in mid-morning, but only briefly and not re-found later. By this time the one flock had split into at least two, with a possible increase in numbers from the day before. Birds now flew across Poen Road and by before Noon were much more spread out than before. Viewing conditions were much as on 20th January.

DID YOU TAKE NOTES?:

Yes, during the observation

DID YOU CONSULT FIELD GUIDE OR OTHER REFERENCES?:

Yes, another day after the observation

WHAT GUIDE(S) OR REFERENCE(S) DID YOU CONSULT?:

The Sibley Filed Guide to Birds of Western North America
National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America
A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of the Sparrows of the United States and Canada (This reference was first consulted on the evening of 21 January).
During the week after the sighting, I also consulted Identification Guide to North American Passerines by Pyle, Howell, Yunick, and DeSante.
I also communicated privately with R. Guy McCaskie (and more recently with Jon Dunn) re: the differences in my description from what is available in the popular field guides currently, all confirming my description.
The following description for purposes of this report is taken from notes I made both at the site of the observation and immediately after before driving home, all primarily on 20 January, but also more briefly (additional details)on the morning of 21 January, after briefly re-finding the bird in question. Field guide(s) were not referred to or consulted before taking any notes, in fact I did not have a field guide with me at the time of either encounter. Field guides were very briefly looked at (NGS and Sibley’s) in the evening of 20 January, after arriving home.
I did call Cliff and Lisa Weisse after seeing the bird the second time on the 20th, verbally sharing with them why I felt strongly that I had seen a McCown’s Longspur, asking him to share the information of the location of the find on IBLE, on the off-chance that someone might still be able to see and independently confirm the bird before sundown.

DESCRIPTION:

1. the crown was heavily marked with blackish, closely spaced streaking, although the intensity decreased on the nape area.

When viewed from the rear, there were two vague "tramlines" extending down the back, with little contrast between the back and the rump. (I have found that Chestnut-collared Longspurs have a very distinct contrast between back and rump visible if viewing a bird from the rear, and display two obvious whitish tramlines.)

2.The front portion of the supercilium was very white (much like Risling's first winter female) with more buffy post the eye. The lores were also quite white with a distinct malar stripe. The eye seemed to have a fairly distinct full, white ring.
Also noting the head, the face pattern was quite distinct (superficially reminding me of a female House Sparrow), but without any hint of black around the auriculars as would be expected in any and all Lapland Longspurs and also most Chestnut-collared Longspurs. There was a buff sub-moustachial stripe, and the area behind the auricular patch was clear buff, blending into the area inside the patch, which was quite pale.

3.The underparts contrasted between a very white, "clean" belly and buffy breast band area and undertail coverts. The breast band was very finely, obliquely and indistinctly streaked, while the sides of the breast had more distinct, dark brownish, though very small streaks and a slightly "brighter buff" than the center of the breast.
There was absolutely no black on the chest, thus ruling out a male bird.

4. The bill was "straw colored" overall Although definitely not suggesting yellow, with darkened tip. (I've always noted Chestnut-collared Longspurs to have quite grayish bills overall.)The McCown's also seemed to have a slightly more bulky bill than the Lapland's nearby.
I could not make out the color of the legs, though they seemed somewhat "dark" in overall color.

5. The primaries seemed quite dark although not "jet black," with some narrow whiteish fringes, with very little projection, just beyond the uppertail coverts, definitely not to the tip of the tail [as in NGS] (Good mark fide McCaskie...and a noted shortcoming of Dunn's editing of NGS).
There was a very slight suggestion of rufous coloration on the median coverts, but no suggestion of a wingbar.

I could not see the tail pattern well at anytime (definitely not as field guides show it to be diagnostic), although narrow whitish edges were noted in the resting bird. When taking flight, extensive white, much more than the Lapland Longspurs present was obvious...strikingly so. Also, the bird had a "plumper" jizz than the Laplands present.
This bird did not have heavy underpart streaking I've always seen evident in winter Chestnut-collared'. Also, never have I seen such a white belly (pale, yes; white, no) in Chestnut-collareds...and definitely not in Laplands, or to my understanding in Smith's Longspur either.
(Should the question arise, the bill, if noting else, as well as plain underparts, ruled out the possibility of American Pipit, at least one of which was discovered to be a part of the flock(s).

BEHAVIOR:

At one point the McCown's was "chased" by both Horned Lark and Lapland Longspur, not causing it to fly, but run quickly a foot or so away from its pursuer, with slightly upturned or cocked tail. (Trait unique to McCown's vs. Chestnut-collared Longspur fide McCaskie and Dunn).
I did not hear any vocalizations. Note the description of flight above...it was hard to follow in such a large and rapidly moving mixed flock; nothing really made it stand out, expect perhaps the paler coloration.

HOW AND WHEN DID YOU POSITIVELY IDENTIFY THE BIRD, AND WHAT CLINCHED THE IDENTIFICATION FOR YOU?

I knew that this bird was not a Lapland Longspur...that elimination was easy. The reasons for eliminating Chestnut-collared were a bit more difficult but are dealt with above also. By the time of my second view of the bird on the 20th I was very sure that I had a McCown's Longspur winter female. When a few of the marks I noted did not match the field guides perfectly, I communicated with two very experienced field people that have extensive experience with this bird...both acknowledging that it fit the known field marks very well actually.

HOW DID YOU ELIMINATE SIMILAR SPECIES, AND WHAT WERE THEY?

See above description.

EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SPECIES (AND SIMILAR SPECIES):

I have studied both McCown’s Longspur and Chestnut-collared Longspur (the most likely species with which McCown’s can be confused), as well as Lapland Longspurs, approximately 120 of which were present that day. My experience is with non-breeding plumage birds in southern California for a number of years on an annual basis, although admittedly female plumaged, non-vocalizing "winter" McCown’s were and are a tricky identification issue. i have also seen both male and female McCown's Longspur and Chestnut-collared Longspur in breeding plumage in CO, ND, SK, AB. (I have not personally seen and therefore am not familiar with Smith's Longspur.)

GENERAL BIRDING EXPERIENCE:

Birding since last year in high school, all across NA. Also Latin America, Europe, India, Far East, and the tropical Pacific.
I would rate my level of expertise as "Expert," having seen more than 2000 species worldwide and 660 in the lower 48 states.

WERE PHOTO(S), VIDEO, AND/OR AUDIO OBTAINED BY YOU?:

None