Date: 10/15/25 2:44 pm From: Michael M. Melius via groups.io <pingothenbingo...> Subject: [sd-birds] Correction Re: FOY Longspurs
Correction in this post about longspurs: HALO should be HOLA. Hello!
Michael
On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 12:43 PM Michael Melius <pingothenbingo...>
wrote:
> Chestnut-collared, that is. (CCLO) I really did try to find them in spring
> migration, searching several times east/southeast of the Black Hills in
> April.
>
> Yesterday I made a long circular trip in eastern Custer Co, from Buffalo
> Gap to Folsom and back through Hermosa. I saw a small flock of Horned Larks
> (HOLA) in a prairie dog town, and a possible flock of longspurs over
> stubble fields of an irrigated area near the Cheyenne River. Those were too
> far off to identify.
>
> With the sun going down, I rolled slowly through some flat farmland along
> Spring Creek Cutoff Road. It's a reliable spot for sparrow migration. A
> harrier was hunting there, and soon I saw some small birds milling around.
> I stopped and got out, and immediately heard CCLO calls. They were flying
> so fast, but I was able to get positive ID's on several, with dark breasts
> and prominent white on the tails. Also some definite HALO's mixed in.
>
> Just then a doe with two young were walking across the stubble field
> towards me. I quickly got back in my pickup, so they'd keep coming. Sure
> enough, they started flushing more larks and longspurs. Better yet, they
> turned west, longways through the field, stirring up more birds. There were
> easily over a hundred. When they would alight in the stubble, I searched
> with a scope, but the only bird heads I could see were meadowlarks. There
> were over 20 of these, probably roosting in a pasture across the road.
>
> My experience with such mixed flocks is mostly winter ones, Lapland
> Longspurs and HALO's. As with these CCLO/HALO flocks, it's very difficult
> to tell them apart when flying. As the birds were finally settling down
> last evening, a group of three CCLO came by, calling, and flying their
> bouncy longspur flight, very obvious. Now I wonder: When they fly with
> HALO's, speeding over the ground, twisting and turning, do they adjust
> their flight to more closely match that of HALO's?
>
> Most of the calls I heard were CCLO's. After they'd all settled in, I had
> the pleasure of hearing many of the longspurs making partial calls from the
> stubble, in all directions.
>
> Michael Melius
>
