Joann Merritt's Essays

A Midnat Resorts To Name-Calling
March, 1997

Hey, you drab brown-streaked bird! You’re a Passerine, an Oscine, a Motacillid, and besides that you’re an Anthus spragueii. Even Audubon called you “Titlatk.” A kinder, gentler John K. Terres poetically refers to you as “Missouri Skylark” or “Prairie Skylark.” But we all acknowledge that your accepted standard name is “Sprague’s Pipit.

The generic name Anthus is from a Greek legend about a boy named Anthus who was killed by his father’s horses and then changed into a bird. Isaac Sprague was an artist and botanical illustrator who accompanied Audubon on an 1843 Missouri river expedition. When Audubon discovered this species in Montana, he named it spragueii in honor of his friend. The family name of Motacillidae is from a Latin word meaning wagtail, and even though this family member does not share that habit it bears the stigma. If people were given names for the way they perambulate, as a veteran mall walker I feel qualified to suggest the Swift, Roadrunner, Creeper, Limpkin and Puffin families.

On February 2, 1980 while on a field trip to High Lonesome Ranch south of town, Ted Jones, Frances, Don and I were walking in a pasture that had been cleared of mesquite when a bird flushed at our feet, rose high in the air and dropped abruptly into the grass ahead of us. Ted and Frances recognized this as Sprague’s Pipit behavior and the next time it flushed Don was “on the point” enabling us to follow and get close looks at the bird as it walked through the grass. That was the only one I had seen until Feb. 1 of this year when Rose Marie showed several birders a Sprague’s Pipit in an alfalfa field.

As this sparrow-like bird with a thin bill walks about eating seeds and insects it blends into the grass so as to be nearly invisible. When it raised its head the dark eye with a light eye ring is very obvious in the pale buffy face and gives the appearance of a bird with a thyroid problem. The Sprague’s Pipit is lightly streaked across the breast and shows white outer tail feathers in flight. Its long legs are variously described as pinkish, pale flesh, yellowish or pale brown. Habitat and behavior help distinguish this bird from the American (formerly Water) Pipit.

Sprague’s Pipits breed in northern prairies where there are no tall perches from which a bird can sing but this innovative bird has solved the problem. He uses the sky for his perch. He spirals ever upward, as high as 500‘ where he sings a warning to rivals that this is his parcel of land. This skylarking display also serves as an advertisement for a mate. With his wings and tail fully spread he delivers his tinkling “jingle bell” song for 20 minutes or more before plummeting head first towards earth, opening his wings only at the last moment before gracefully alighting on the ground. When the female is on her nest she sometimes flies out to meet him, thus revealing the location of her nest.

If your pleasure lies in viewing birds with colorful plumage, don’t bother searching for the nondescript Sprague’s Pipit. But if you enjoy the challenge of seeking elusive birds with interesting behavior then this is the bird for you - and me! When birding Midland’s prairie pastures let’s look for this bird and for our resident Horned Larks who share the same habitat and the same skylarking display. Even if we don’t see or hear a lark at least we’ll have one.