- Anthus spragueii
Identification
10-15cm. Sexes similar.
Brown and striped with white outer tail feathers. Crown, nape, and upperparts streaked black and buff, wings with two white wingbars.
Upper breast finely streaked, rest of underside mostly unmarked.
Pale mostly unmarked face with white eyering makes dark brown eye seem large.
Bill is thin and mostly pink, legs yellow or pinkish.
Distribution
North America
Breeds in the northern central plains in Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and United States (Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota).
Winters in southern United States (Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona has the majority of the birds) and Mexico (northern and central).
Taxonomy
Habitat
Prairie and open grasslands.
Behaviour
The diet includes insects and spiders, as well as some seeds.
It builds a cup woven of fine grasses which is placed on the ground. Some nests have canopies of long grasses, sometimes forming a complete dome. 4-6 pale whitish with brown blotches eggs are laid.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Ebird.org
- Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124
