Locality: South Jetty of the Columbia River, Clatsop Co., OR
Date: Oct 6,2005
Reporting observers address: Mike Patterson
1338 Kensington Av
Astoria, OR 97103
Other observers: Steve Warner reported a Chestnut-collared Longspur from this location on Oct 4. I located at least one, possibly 2 birds on Oct 5, one of which I heard well. Later in the day on Oct 5 Jay Withcott observed a single individual. The bird I saw today closely matches the description provided by Jay, but may not be the bird originally flushed on the morning of the 5th.
Optical equipment: 30x60 Bushnell spotting scope
Distance from bird: about 10m
Duration of observation: 10 min+
Habitat: low dune/salicornia.
Behavior: This bird was remarkably tame and sat in the open sand occasionally hopping a bit. The bird finally flew after about 5 minutes giving a distinctive "ji-ji-ji-ji" call. It made a circle around the pond and then landed about 10m away from me. After another 2 or 3 mins a large flock of Lapland Longspurs flushed up and it flew up with them making the more expected "kidididdle" call. It land nearby with the Lapland Longspurs and began feeding on Plantago maritima.
Description:
Overall: A bit larger than a Savannah Sparrow, but clearly smaller than a Lapland Longspur.
Head: Ground color buffy, dark brown crown streaking with a very lightly streaked central crown stripe. Brownish wash from lore through eye. Crescent shaped dark border to the back edge of the auricular, often obscured when the bird was puffed up. Brown wash on cheek. Dark brown malar stripe. Throat buffy. Bill grayish pink.
Breast: mostly grayish buff. Fine blackish horizontal barring was clearly visible over the mid-breast. This barring was beneath very fine gray buff feather tips so the barring was only visible when the bird was standing just right.
Back: Ground color warm, medium brown with wide, dark brown streaks.
Wings: Medium brown, moderate feather wear visible on secondaries, primary projection quite short. No strong wingbars. White spot at bend of wing.
Tail: The two outermost tail feathers (r5-6) were all white; r4 was nearly all white; r1 was all dark; r2-3 were white at the base with dark at the ends.
Voice: I heard a "ji-ji-ji-ji-ji" call several times and the diagnostic "kidididdle" call twice.
Similar species: White tail feathers should eliminate Savannah Sparrow. Combination of face pattern, details of the breast and pattern of white in the tail should eliminate Lapland Longspur (and other rarer longspurs). Snow Bunting would be much larger and show white in the wings as well as the tail.
Experience: I have seen Chestnut-collared Longspurs in Clatsop Co. pretty much annually since about 2000 and have seen 100's of Lapland Longspurs.
