Postcards from Passerines: The Thick-billed Longspur

Postcards from Passerines. Greetings! I’m on my way north for the summer, returning from my winter home in the Chihuahuan Desert! Unlike other birds, I don't hop—I walk & run. The long claw on my hind toe helps me to walk and run in my shortgrass prairie home. I eat seeds & insects like ants & moths. When I catch grasshoppers, I beat them on the ground to remove their wings & legs. I hope you can visit the short-grass prairie & listen to my beautiful song under the wide-open sky. The thick-billed longspur
Photo By/Credit
Katie Nuessly/USFWS
Date Shot/Created
04/09/2025
Media Usage Rights/License
Public Domain
Image
Postcards from Passerines: Greetings from the Thick-billed Longspur
Ecosystem
Prairie
Species
Rhynchophanes mccownii
Subject tags
Birds
Migratory birds