Sprague's Pipit
Anthus spragueii

Description: A small grassland bird (pipit).

Adult: A pale, slender, sparrow-sized bird with white outer tail feathers, a thin bill, pale legs, and a heavily-streaked back. The following is from Godfrey (1966), Maher (1979), and King (1981). The sexes are alike; adults reach a length of 6.5 in (16.5 cm), and a weight of 23.7-24.0 g. The sides of the head are pale, as are the indistinct buffy eye-rings and lores contrast with dark brown eyes; ear coverts plain brownish-buff, usually with rufescent tinge; crown, sides and rear of neck buffy with sharply defined black streaks; back buffy or sandy brown with broad black streaks, a paler more prominent buffy stripe down each side of back; wings 7.7-8.5 cm long, feathers blackish-brown with whitish to buffy brown edging, two whitish wing bars; rump and upper tail coverts paler than back, sandy brown with narrow black streaks; tail 53-60 cm long, blackish-brown feathers with buffy edging, outer two pairs of feathers white; breast bright dark buff with a necklace of narrow black streaks, flanks brownish buff and without streaks; legs pale brown, flesh or yellowish-brown.

Vocalizations: The bird is most easily detected by its unique flight song given high overhead (as high as 75 m); a high-pitched, thin "jingling" sound that can continue for as long as an hour (Peterson 1980, King 1981).

Nests: Located in depressions in the ground and concealed in clumps of grass (Terres 1980). Constructed entirely of dead grass, woven in a circular arrangement, with no lining (Roberts 1932, Bent 1950). Some are partially or completely arched over with dead grasses anchored to the surrounding vegetation. In Manitoba, a nest was built in a depression that was much larger than the nest itself and the extra space was filled with dead grass (Harris 1933). The interior of this nest measured three in (7.6 cm) in diameter and was 1.5 in (3.5 cm) deep. Nests are difficult to find, and females do not flush from the nest until they are almost stepped on. Nestlings are altricial and downy.

Eggs: The eggs are a dull grayish-white with little or no gloss and are speckled with spots or blotches of purplish-brown, with the markings being more numerous at the large end. The average measurements of 44 eggs from various locations are 20.9 by 15.3 mm (Bent 1950).

Life History:

The breeding season in North Dakota extends from late April through early September (Stewart 1975), with peak singing in mid-May (Martin and Boczkiewicz 1993). There is only one detailed report of a territory (Harris 1933). This territory, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, consisted of a few square feet of ground around the nest and two or three spots where food was gathered. Most of the activities such as singing and displaying were carried out high in the air.

Dates on which nests with eggs have been found range from June 7 to June 30 in North Dakota and from May 19 to June 28 in Saskatchewan (Bent 1950). There seems to be a period of inactivity between an active period of breeding behavior in late April to early June and a late period from mid-July through early September (Stewart 1975). Therefore, although it has never been documented, Sprague's pipits may raise two broods of young a year. Clutch size is usually four or five eggs; occasionally clutches consist of six eggs. The incubation period is unknown, but the meadow pipit (ANTHUS PRATENSIS) in Europe has an incubation period of 13-14 days (Bent 1950).

The female did all of the brooding and feeding the nestlings in a nest in Manitoba (Harris 1933). These nestlings stayed in the nest 10 or 11 days and when they left, they were not able to fly and had difficulty standing upright. The male may do most of the feeding of the young after they leave the nest, especially in the early part of the breeding season (Harris 1933). In Saskatchewan, the dates that young leave the nest range from the end of May to the middle of August, with the median date occurring at the end of June (Maher 1979).

Habitat:

Breeding habitat includes short-grass plains, mixed grass prairie, alkaline meadows, and wet meadows. This species is found in grasslands with mid-height vegetation, including upland mixed-grass prairie, alkaline meadows, and wet meadow zones around alkali and freshwater lakes (Stewart 1975; Dryer, pers. comm.).

Near Welby, Saskatchewan, Sprague's pipit bred in a shortgrass prairie that had not been grazed for at least seven years (Harris 1983). The plant cover included 28% bare ground with litter, 10.8% needle and thread grass (Stipa comata), 9.4% prairie selaginella (Selaginella densa), 6.9% alkali grass (Distichlis stricta), 6.6% june grass (Koeleria cristata) and various forbs. At Cross Ranch Nature Preserve in North Dakota, Berkey (1983) found 0.12 singing males/hectare in a mixed grass prairie in which the ground cover consisted of 75% grasses and sedges, 15% shrubs and 10% forbs. On a lowland mixed-grass prairie at Cross Ranch, there were 0.15 singing males/hectare. The ground cover on this prairie was 80% grasses and sedges, 15% forbs and 5% woody shrubs (Berkey 1983). This species also occurs in alkaline meadows with slender wheatgrass (Agropyron caninum), fowl bluegrass (Poa palustris), northern reedgrass (Calamagrostis inexpansa), Baltic rush (Juncus balticus) and fescue sedge (Carex brevior) and in wet meadows with saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), alkali grass and wild barley (Stewart 1975).

No studies have measured the vegetation density of breeding habitats, but some qualitative assessments have been made. Berkey (pers. comm.) found high densities in flat, saline areas dominated by sparse stands of foxtail (Setaria sp.) three to six in (7.6-15.2 cm) high in North Dakota, and an observer in Montana noted that the birds commonly occur in areas of sparse grass (Kantrud 1981). On the other hand, Kantrud and Kologiski (1982) commented that early ornithologists found breeding pipits in dense vegetation in the northern Great Plains of the U.S. There is some evidence of shifts from upland areas to wetter habitats in dry years. In the Sheyenne Lake region of central North Dakota during 1980, a dry year, most of the birds were found in wet meadows, with just a few in the usual nesting habitat of upland native prairie (Faanes 1982). This species seems to tolerate some disturbed grasslands.

Habitat during migration and in winter consists of pastures and weedy fields (AOU 1983), including grasslands with dense herbaceous vegetation or grassy agricultural fields.

Distribution:

United States: AL, AR, AZ, CO, GA, KS, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, WY

Canada: AB, MB, SK

Status:

NatureServe Status: Global Status: G4, Global Status Last Reviewed: 29Apr2009, Global Status Last Changed: 03Dec1996, Rounded Global Status: G4 - Apparently Secure

Other Statuses: Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA) Schedule 1/Annexe 1 Status: T (05Jun2003), Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC): Threatened (01May2000), IUCN Red List Category: VU - Vulnerable

Resources:

• NatureServe Species Profile - Full Report