Calcarius pictus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
Smith's longspur (Calcarius pictus) is a bird from the family Calcariidae, which also contains the other species of longspurs. A bird of open habitats, it breeds in northern Canada and Alaska, and winters in the southern United States. Primarily a ground-feeding seed-eater, it supplements its diet with insects in the summer.
These birds have short cone-shaped bills, streaked backs, and dark tails with white outer rectrices. In breeding state plumage (mostly formed by worn basic plumage), the male has a pumpkin-orange throat, nape, and underparts contrasting with an intricate black-and-white face pattern. The white lesser coverts are quite pronounced on a male in spring and early summer. Females and immatures have lightly streaked buffy underparts, dark crowns, brown wings with less obvious white lesser coverts, and a light-colored face. The tail is identical at all ages.
Length: 15–17 cm (5.9–6.7 in) Weight: 20–31 g (0.7–1.1 oz) Wingspan: 25 cm (9.8 in) This bird breeds in open grassy areas near the tree line in northern Canada and Alaska. In winter, they congregate in open fields, including airports, in the south-central... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Smith's Longspur sighting in Denali National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 90th most-seen of the 113 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Smith's Longspur in Denali National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season. November has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Smith's Longspur sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Denali National Park, in our data
Denali National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Smith's Longspur sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Smith's Longspur is recorded against all the birds logged in Denali National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
