Prairie Falcon Bird – Birds of Prey – 10/2/2013

This Prairie Falcon was photographed in Greeley, Colorado at an electrical power substation.

Select this link to see photos or a slideshow of the Prairie Falcon

The Prairie Falcon is a sandy brownish bird with black wing tips, a white eyebrow stripe, and black sideburns. It has a range from southwest Canada and western United States to south Mexico. It has a habitat in open hills, plains, prairies, and deserts. Its diet is mostly small birds and mammals. It often hunts by flying fast and low over ground taking prey by surprise, as was this particular case.

 

Lapland Longspur Bird – Passerines – 10/1/2012

The Lapland Longspur was photographed at the Lakeshore State park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan

Select this link to see photos or a slideshow of the Lapland Longspur

The Lapland Lonspur has black streaks on rusty-gray back with a white breast and black streaks on the throat. The feet have long sharp noticeable spurs. It ranges in the Artic, circumpolar, and winters from Southern Canada to the center southern part of the United States. In the summer the Artic tundra has an abundance of Lapland Longspurs and in the winter the birds come south. It is a bird of the open country. Its habitat is in the tundra in the winter, and in prairies and fields in the summer. The diet is mostly seeds and insects.