Locality: Necanicum Estuary, Gearhart, Clatsop Co., OR
Date: Oct 5, 2003
Reporting observers address: Mike Patterson
1338 Kensington Av
Astoria, OR 97103
Optical equipment: 8x40 Bushnell Binoculars
Distance from bird: 3 to 50 m
Duration of observation: I flushed the bird three times and got a total look of (maybe) 1 minute as it flew around me.
Habitat: low dune.
Behavior: I first flushed the bird just west of the old campfire ring. It flushed silently, then circled around landing a few meters beyond the place I flushed it. The second time I flushed it, it made the distinctive "chip-cheedle" called I have heard from previous encounters with this species. It circled me and landed just east of the campfire ring. On the third flush, it made two "pwick" notes and flew west dropping down into the dunes about 100m away.
Description:
Overall: small, sparrow-sized bird with distinctive white outer tail feathers. I did not see it on the ground, only in flight.
Head: crown medium brown with darker streaking, face plain looking, pale-ish supercillium.
Breast, belly and undertail coverts, buffy
Mantle: medium brown with dark streaks, not unlike the many Savannah Sparrows in the area
Tail: Outer rects were completely white, innermost rects were blackish, remaining rects were white at base and blackish toward ends. Overall impression of tail was more white at base (see drawing).
Voice: When flushed the bird made a distinctive, throaty "chip-cheadle" once. I also heard a it make several single "pwick" notes.
Similar species: I saw a single Lapland Longspur, in the area later in the day. It was calling in a typical Lapland Longspur fashion, appeared larger and more strongly marked in the face.
Experience: I have now seen 7 Chestnut-collared Longspurs in Clatsop Co. as well as 100's of Lapland Longspurs. I am confident this was a Chestnut-collared Longspur.
