Thick-billed longspur

The thick-billed longspur was described in 1851 by the American amateur ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence under the English name rufous-winged lark bunting. He placed it in the genus Plectrophanes and coined the binomial name Plectrophanes mccownii.{{ cite journal | last=Lawrence | first=George Newbold | author-link=George Newbold Lawrence | year=1851 | title=Descriptions of new species of birds, of the genera Toxostoma Wagler, Tyrannula Swainson, and Plectrophanes Meyer | journal=Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York | volume=5 | pages=121–123 [122–123] | doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1852.tb00121.x | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16328596 }} It was moved into its own genus Rhynchophanes in 1858 by Spencer Baird on account of its bill size and short spur,{{ cite book | last=Baird | first=Spencer F. | author-link=Spencer Fullerton Baird | year=1858 | title=Reports of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practical and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean made under the direction of the secretary of war in 1853-1856 | volume=9 Birds | location=Washington | publisher=Beverly Tucker, printer | pages=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11689164 xx], [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11689182 xxxviii], [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11689632 432] }} but was moved to Calcarius after a hybrid with the chestnut-collared longspur was discovered. It was once again placed in its own genus after a 2003 genetic study found it was more closely related to the snow buntings than the other longspurs.{{cite journal|last1=Klicka |first1=John |last2=Zink |first2=Robert M. |last3=Winke |first3=K. |year=2003|title=Longspurs and snow buntings: phylogeny and biogeography of a high-latitude clade (Calcarius)|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=26|issue=2|pages=165–75|doi=10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00360-3 |pmid=12565028 |bibcode=2003MolPE..26..165K }}{{cite journal| last1=Chesser | first1=R Terry | last2=Banks | first2=Richard C | last3=Barker | first3=F Keith | last4=Cicero | first4=Carla | last5=Dunn | first5=Jon L | last6=Kratter | first6=Andrew W | last7=Lovette | first7=Irby J | last8=Rasmussen | first8=Pamela C | last9=Remsen | first9=JV Jr | last10=Rising | first10=James D | last11=Stotz | first11=Douglas F | last12=Winker | first12=Kevin | year=2010 | title=Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds |journal=The Auk |volume=127 | issue= 3 |pages= 726–744 |doi=10.1525/auk.2010.127.4.966 | doi-access=free }}

"McCown's longspur" is no longer used by the American Ornithological Society, instead being changed to "thick-billed longspur", a literal translation of its genus name, Rhynchophanes.{{Cite web|title=A Bird Named for a Confederate General Sparks Calls for Change|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/bird-named-confederate-general-sparks-calls-change-180975376/ |access-date=2020-08-08 |website=Smithsonian Magazine }}{{Cite web |title=2020 Proposals |url=https://americanornithology.org/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2020-proposals/ |access-date=2020-08-08 |website=American Ornithological Society |archive-date=2020-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921070559/https://americanornithology.org/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2020-proposals/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Kratter | first6=A.W. | last7=Lovette | first7=I.J. | last8=Mason | first8=N.A. | last9=Rasmussen | first9=P.C. | last10=Remsen | first10=J.V.J. | last11=Stotz | first11=D.F. | last12=Winker | first12=K. | date=2021 | title=Addendum to the Sixty-first Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=138 | issue=1 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukaa074 | doi-access=free}} The IOC Bird List has followed suit with the name change.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Finches, euphonias, longspurs, Thrush-tanager | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=3 December 2022 }}

The name "McCown" refers to Captain John P. McCown, an American army officer who collected the specimen in 1851 that led to the species first being scientifically described. McCown later fought for the Confederacy,{{cite book|last=Beolens|first=Bo|title=Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds|year=2003|publisher=Christopher Helm|location=London|page=224|author2=Watkins, Michael}} which led to controversy starting in 2018, with parallels drawn to the removal of Confederate memorials. The pressure to change the name increased following the George Floyd protests and Black Birder's Week (itself a response to the Central Park birdwatching incident).{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Zachary |title=A small bird sheds its Confederate past with a new name |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-small-bird-sheds-its-confederate-past-with-a-new-name/2020/08/11/86f64f20-dbfa-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=15 August 2020}}

The thick-billed longspur is about {{cvt|15|cm}} long, has a wingspan of {{cvt|28|cm}} and weighs around {{cvt|25|g}}.{{Cite web|date=September 28, 2020|title=Wyoming Species Account|url=https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Habitat/SWAP/Birds/Mccowns-Longspur.pdf}} It has a large cone-shaped bill, a streaked back, a rust-coloured shoulder and a white tail with a dark tip. In breeding plumage, the male has a white throat and underparts, a grey face and nape and a black crown. Breeding females are largely gray, with a pale bill and rusty tinged median coverts and scapulars. Non-breeding males are similar to females but with crowns spotted rather than streaked, and more chestnut on their median coverts and scapulars.{{cite journal | last=With | first=K.A. | year=2021 | title=Thick-billed Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), version 1.1 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.mcclon.01.1 | s2cid=240904071 | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.mcclon.01.1 | access-date=3 December 2022 | url-access=subscription }}

Juveniles are seen briefly in late summer and are more uniformly sandy, with a streaked upper breast and white belly.

Thick-billed longspurs breed in the northwestern Great Plains states and southern Prairie Provinces. They prefer the sparsely vegetated habitat of the semi-arid shortgrass steppes, which provide a mix of perennial shortgrasses and cacti. The breeding range of thick-billed longspurs has drastically reduced; historically, it stretched farther south into Oklahoma, and east into Minnesota and Manitoba.

Their non-breeding range stretches from south Oklahoma into Texas and Northern Mexico. Here, they prefer open habitats with sparse vegetation such as shortgrass prairie, plowed fields, grazed pastures and dried lake beds.

The male produces a distinctive tinkling song, often in flight. The calls include a dry rattle.

Nests are constructed in a shallow depression on the ground, and incubate the eggs for about 12 days. Both parents feed the young, and fledglings leave the nest about 10 days after hatching, before they can properly fly. Outside the breeding season, thick-billed longspurs occur in flocks, sometimes with other species like Lapland longspur and horned lark.

The diet consists of seeds and insects.

The numbers and range of these birds have declined since the early 1900s, likely due to habitat loss.

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{{Passeroidea|E.|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Calcariidae

Category:Native birds of the Canadian Prairies

Category:Native birds of the Plains-Midwest (United States)

Category:Birds described in 1851

Category:Taxa named by George Newbold Lawrence

Category:Name changes due to the George Floyd protests