I was out walking fields today. I also checked that one out. I saw around
100 Lapland's, didn't find any Smith's. Did have a Peregrine get up from the
field. The plowed dirt is really hard to walk in.
I walked the corn stubble ,that's next to the prairie. Although it looks
great, as far as having weeds in it, I didn't find anything.
The guy in the tractor, stopped me and wanted to chat. He said the reason
the field had weeds ,was becuase it got too wet to get out and spray.
The field on the south side ,of Bellbrook, has nice weeds. I found one
group of 15+ Swamp Sparrows.But ,I've never seen a longspur in it. They will
be in the field across the road. The field is plowed, but I could see them
get up.
I walked Evansville SWA, hoping for a good sparrow. Just a few Song and
Savannah's. 3 longspurs got up out of the gravelly area ,of the soy bean
field. I didn't pick up on them till they were up aways. As I watched one ,I
could pick up on little flashes of white ,in the lesser coverts area. I
couldn't get any color tones. That one I feel comfortable calling a
Smith's, but no way did I see enough to put it in a report. Those 3 birds
circled high, and started to come back, but then disappeared to the NE.
I also walked a field off Lacy Road. I had atleast 20 Savannah's there.
Only 2 Lapland's.
Steve Thiessen Stoughton Dane co.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alyssa DeRubeis" <tiger150@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 7:55 PM
Subject: [wisb] Longspurs: Lapland yes, Smith's no (Dane Co.)
I checked out the recently plowed and burned wildlife food plots in the
Brooklyn Wildlife Area from 5:15-6:45pm this evening. The weather wasn't
ideal (windy and rainy for half of it) so that may have influenced my
results. I did find a cooperative flock of about 50 Lapland Longspurs. I
watched them fly short distances and feed on the ground for a while, and at
no point did I see a Smith's in that flock. After about 15 minutes the
group flew up and out of the field. When I walked back about 20 minutes
later I flushed a flock of 10 longspurs (which may or may not have been
part of the original flock I saw earlier), but they immediately took off.
Because they were back-lit and flying away from me, there was no way to
tell if a Smith's was mixed in with them. The vocalizations sounded like
those of Lapland.
It's possible that the Smith's are still out there. At least the Laplands
for sure are. Good birding!
Alyssa DeRubeis
Madison, Dane Co.
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