Lapland Longspur - Food Habits

Food Habits

The food habits of the Lapland Longspur are quite simple: mostly seeds in winter and arthropods in the summer, when they are in activity (Gabrielson, 1924) .

During the winter, the longspur feeds on seeds. They pick them on the ground, rarely feeding directly on plants. They will forage around the same area for a period varying between a few minutes and an hour, then fly away looking for a new foraging area. Their seed diet is composed mainly of seeds from grass, foxtail, cultivated millet, crabgrass and wheat (Gabrielson, 1924). During the breeding season, the birds migrate to the north, where their diet switches to arthropods. Nestlings are only fed arthropods, which also constitute the diet of the parents at that time of the year (June to July). The birds often catch insects in mid-air, but does forage through vegetation when climatic conditions prevent the insects from flying (Watson, 1957) . Longspurs can consume between 3000 and 10000 prey items (insects or seeds) per day, depending on their energy needs. Dipteran larvae and adults form the major part of their insectivorous diet. (Custer and Pitelka, 1978)