BirdNote; Montana Grassland Birds - Where They Go in Winter

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Montana Grassland Birds – Where They Go in Winter

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Sounds of whistling wind]

Some of the most extensive grasslands on the continent remain in Northeast Montana. At this time of year, these lands lie under windblown snow.

But by early summer, the grass is verdant and grassland birds abound. Their sweet songs fill the warm air. Songs such as those of McCown’s Longspur* [McCown’s Longspur* song]; Lark Bunting [Lark Bunting song]; and the Willet [“Western” Willet song].

Where do these exhilarating singers go in winter?

They’ve all gone south. The sparrow-like McCown’s Longspurs* migrate to west Texas and northern Mexico, where you might flush a winter flock from a grazed pasture or plowed field. Lark Buntings, a stocky sort of sparrow, range in winter over much of northern Mexico and the adjacent U.S. They turn up everywhere from farm fields to desert cactus.

[Calls of Lark Buntings as ambient]

Willets, however, seek out truly different winter habitat. Large sandpipers that breed in prairie wetlands, Willets spend the cold months along Pacific coastal shorelines from Washington State south all the way through Central America.

[Willet calls as ambient.]

For now, winter reigns over Montana’s grasslands. June may seem distant, but hearing the bird songs makes you know it’s worth the wait.

[McCown’s Longspur* song]

Today’s show brought to you by The Bobolink Foundation. For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. McCown’s Longspur* song [105290] by G.A. Keller; Lark Bunting song [105289] recorded by G.A. Keller; Lark Bunting call [169513] (used for ambient) recorded by T. Johnson; Willet song [133097] by G.A. Keller; Willet call [132983] by M. Andersen.

BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Chris Peterson

© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org December 2013/2017 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# montana-01-2012-12-07 montana-01

* Editor’s note: in 2020, the McCown’s Longspur was renamed the Thick-billed Longspur by the American Ornithological Society.