Lapland Longspur

How to recognise it

• Adult male has an all-black crown, cheek, throat and upper breast, and a rufous nape
• Pale supercilium runs behind the black ear coverts and down onto the neck
• Straw-yellow bill with a black tip, and a rufous wing panel between two white bars
• Female lacks the black on the head and is paler, with a pale, black-spotted breast

Call and song

In flight and when flushed it gives a dry "pr'r'r'rt", harder and drier than the Snow Bunting's call. It also gives short whistled "tju" or harsh "tjyb" notes. The song is a short phrase with a desolate ring, somewhat like the Horned Lark's song but without its halting start.

Where and when

A migrant, it breeds in the mountains from northern Dalarna to Torne lappmark, above the tree line. It arrives in late April or early May and leaves in August and early September, most Swedish birds heading southeast. In spring it stops in fair numbers on the Västerbotten and Norrbotten coasts but is scarce in southern Sweden. It is reported most in June and September and rarely in December.

Food and behaviour

In summer it eats mainly insects, and on migration mostly seeds. In winter it often forms mixed flocks with Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. It sometimes sings in a hovering song flight with its tail spread, and the phrases then get longer. The nest is placed in damp spots on the ground.