ML460117591

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***MEGA - the first Yukon record of Thick-billed Longspur and the northernmost North American record. Flushed while parking my vehicle in the shoulder, during which the excessive amounts of white in the outer tail were striking. It didn’t click right away, however I knew I had something good. Stepped out and flushed again, this time saw where it landed only to raise my bins and see a TBLO head stick out of the grass (***panic***). Immediately fired off a bunch of shots which were sufficient for documentation. It flew off and headed out on the lake, but returned and landed just behind the airport fence. I played the song, during which initially I didn’t receive a response but then heard the bird answer with one full song phrase. Kept playing and then saw the bird walk through the short airstrip vegetation towards me. Got some more shots and then left the bird to check out another spot (and digest this for a bit). Half an hour later and the bird is just next to the airport road again, occasionally flushing and calling (a shorter version of LALO/SMLO - very dry). Upon one landing, the bird produced a second song phrase. I was unable to record the song but got some calls while in flight. Male in full breeding plumage, photos forthcoming.

Technical information

Dimensions

4032 pixels x 3024 pixels

Original file size

4.56 MB