Calcarius lapponicus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The Lapland longspur (Calcarius lapponicus), also known as the Lapland bunting, is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae. It is a circumpolar arctic breeder and the only member of the genus Calcarius present in Eurasia.
The Lapland longspur was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the finches in the genus Fringilla and coined the binomial name Fringilla lapponica. The family is now generally separated by modern authors from the Fringillidae (Old World finches). The Lapland longspur is now one of three longspurs placed in the genus Calcarius that was introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The English name refers to the long hind claws. The genus name Calcarius is from Latin calcaria, "spurs", and the specific lapponicus refers to Lapland.
Five subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Celestún Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 10 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Beijing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Lapland Longspur sighting in Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 220th most-seen of the 285 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Lapland Longspur in Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lapland Longspur sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Lapland Longspur sightings, Wadden Sea National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (United States, about 10%), Kluane National Park (Canada, under 5%) and Denali National Park (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lapland Longspur is recorded against all the birds logged in Wadden Sea National Park (41 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.
