During breeding season Smith’s Longspur inhabits open sedge tussock tundra with low shrubs. Nests on the ground.
Yukon: Scattered populations through much of northern Yukon and parts of mountainous central and southern Yukon.
North America: Scattered populations through low Arctic from northern Alaska east to James Bay, and in shrubby alpine from Alaska to northwestern BC Winters in south-central USA.
Breeding adult male has a black and white head; rich, buff nape and underparts; and a white patch on shoulder. Breeding females are not as distinctive, with a dusky ear patch and pale buff eyebrow. Outer feathers on each side of tail are almost entirely white. Sings from the ground, not the air like the Lapland Longspur.
Animal | Bird |
---|---|
Bird | Longspures & Snow Buntings (Calcarius pictus) |
Color | black, brown, white |