The Alaska Longspur in California
The Alaska Longspur in California
On October 2, 1909, I was hunting rails in the tide marshes of False Bay, San Diego County, California. At the edge of the marsh I saw a sparrow on the Salicornia that lookt like a lark finch in molt. As this was so unusual a place for that species I flusht the bird. It rose to some height but soon came down alighting near the place from which it started. In flight it showed so little white in the tail that I followed it to observe it further, when it flew again, passing over me and alighting in weeds at the foot of the slope outside the Salicornia, where I shot it. The bird was an adult female in winter plumage, and has been identified by Robert Ridgway as the Alaska Longspur, Calcarius lapponicus alascensis. I believe this is the most southern record for the Pacific Coast.
