Longspurs and snow buntings | Calcariidae

IJsgorzen en sneeuwgorzen | Escribanos nivales y lapones

The family is named for the hind toe: the claw is long and almost straight, often longer than the toe itself, and belongs to birds that live walking on flat, treeless ground. They are stocky seed-eaters with a short conical bill, long pointed wings and a fast, low flight, and they walk rather than hop. The family is small and breeds in the north, on the tundra and on the prairies of the interior. In Mexico the species in this guide are only winter visitors to the north: Chestnut-collared and Thick-billed Longspur winter in short grassland and dry plains, mainly in Chihuahua and neighbouring states, while Lapland Longspur occurs there as a rare winter visitor; further south the family is absent. Outside the breeding season they roam in flocks that sweep low over the grass and drop in suddenly. Summer and winter plumages differ strongly: the crisply marked male of June is a brown, streaked bird in winter, and that is how they are seen here. On the breeding grounds the song comes in a short song flight, and the nest sits on the ground in a tussock. The group has been placed in a family of its own since around 2010, apart from the true buntings.