Lapland Longspur@Laurel Hill

Longspur in flight
Steve Buckingham reports:

While others were marveling at the Snowy Owls at DeKorte on Saturday, I went over to Laurel Hill Park to check on the Lapland Longspur reported by Chris Takacs earlier in the week, and was not disappointed.

There were actually 2  Longspurs, a mature male and a female/immature male, hanging out with about 50 Horned Larks.

I was watching them forage and periodically take flight and fly circles around the field and then land in different spots.  After about 45 minutes, they all took flight heading south away from the field and out of sight.

Turns out what spooked the birds was a bright male Kestrel.  He apparently was less interested in the imported arctic tundra bird special than the locavore rodent special on Saturday’s lunch menu.

(Thanks, Steve!)

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