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 west 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. Behaviour 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. Conservation The numbers and range of these birds have declined since the early 1900s, likely due to habitat loss. References Calcariidae Native birds of the Canadian Prairies Native birds of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Birds described in 1851 Taxa named by George Newbold Lawrence