[wisb] Re: Smith's Longspurs
- From: Schaufenbuel <schaufenbuel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Chris W <little_blue_birdie@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 12:24:27 -0500
The Smith's absolutely must pass through SW Wisconsin each year and
likely more of the state. They do not migrate west into Iowa where big
numbers may occur; they tend to move in a north-northwesterly direction
from as far east as Indiana and Ohio. Good-sized flocks have occurred
in E and NE Iowa in recent years and flocks are regular in Illinois.
Migrant Smith's apparent tendency to avoid overflight of the Great Lakes
(Michigan and Superior) creates a shadow and maybe why few vagrants are
found in the NE parts of WI.
Check out eBird for recent sightings nationwide:
*http://tinyurl.com/mcpexqv *You have to look to find them at the right
time of year in WI and not many birds are slugging through big open
stretches of weedy cropland when lakes and forests hold easy to find
migrants in early to late April.*
*Milwaukee shoreline is a prime spot where active birders find the bird
concentrating along the lake on on occasion. But, some must bounce up
against the lakes in proper habitat elsewhere along the lake front every
year and probably when there is a strong wesrtly airflow. As observers
in Dane County found they do not behave exactly like Laplands. For
instance, I have seen them land on fence lines and small bushes which I
have can not recall the Lapland doing.
--
Joe Schaufenbuel
Stevens Point
Portage Co., WI
On 4/25/2014 10:55 AM, Chris W wrote:
> Does Smith's actually pass through WI every year in small numbers?
>
> I was under the impression that any records in WI were considered overshoots
> due to strong south winds and that most years, they head west before ever
> reaching WI.
>
>
> --Chris W
> Richland County
>
> Sent from my Samsung Mobile
>
>
>
> Schaufenbuel <schaufenbuel@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> To follow up on John's experience with calls it is worth walking long
>> stretches of possible Smith's Longspur habitat anywhere in WI. Habitat
>> consists usually of open patches of soil with foxtail upon which the
>> bird seems to prefer feeding. In the old days the bird seem to frequent
>> remnant wet prairie patches.
>>
>> Longspur page (calls): http://pjdeye.blogspot.com/2009/10/longspurs.html
>>
>> The point I want to add is listen for Chestnut-collared Longspur too.
>> Here is a link to the call which sounds like a begging baby Red-winged
>> Blackbird:
>>
>> http://birds.audubon.org/birds/chestnut-collared-longspur
>>
>>
>> --
>> Joe Schaufenbuel
>> Stevens Point
>> Portage Co., WI
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/25/2014 9:29 AM, John Idzikowski wrote:
>>> I have not followed every message in this thread so perhaps my comments are
>>> redundant. We have had Smith's in April and mid-September in the past at
>>> the Milwaukee Coast Guard Impoundment before it was destroyed by the last
>>> fill and engineering project in 2009. On all occasions the distinctive dry
>>> rattle call called our attention to its presence.
>>>
>>> http://www.xeno-canto.org/70077
>>>
>>> This call seems very diagnostic; I cannot confuse it with any other open
>>> field species one may encounter in Wisconsin. The small flocks we had
>>> frequented bare dirt with clumps of dried grasses. I hope that someone has
>>> taken a digital of the current site that could be posted. Knowing the
>>> distinctiveness of its habitat preferences and call allows one to plan for
>>> better hunting and perhaps less of a need for flushing as grassy clumps and
>>> furrows could be scoped once one suspects Smith's, but at the same time the
>>> flocks we had in Milwaukee would frequently self-flush.
>>>
>>> We do not know the exact passage range of Smith's through Wisconsin, but it
>>> seems to be more common as one goes west. Some range maps indicate that it
>>> does not pass through Wisconsin at all.
>>>
>>> John Idzikowski,
>>> Milwaukee
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>> --
>> Joe Schaufenbuel
>> Stevens Point
>> Portage Co., WI
>>
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>>
--
Joe Schaufenbuel
Stevens Point
Portage Co., WI
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