Lapland bunting, Calcarius lapponicus, commonly known as the Lapland longspur in North America, photographed at Dungeness RSPB reserve, Lydd, Kent, UK.
Image: Adrian White, September 2010. [use your binoculars].
Nikon D40x with a Tamron 70-300 lens.
Question: This widespread mystery bird's breeding plumage is dramatically different from its non-breeding plumage, yet these birds moult only once per year. How can a bird have two different plumages if it moults only once per year?
Response: This is a Lapland bunting, Calcarius lapponicus. This bird is commonly known as the Lapland longspur in North America, in honour of the extra-long claw on its backward-pointing toe, or hallux.
Unlike most birds with different breeding and non-breeding plumages, longspurs moult only once per year. In the fall, they moult into their streaky non-breeding plumage. This nonbreeding plumage is almost identical for males and females. But by spring, the outer tips of these feathers have worn off to reveal the males' distinctive breeding plumage underneath.
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