Breeds in southern Canada (from southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and south-central Manitoba) southern in Great Plains to north-eastern Colorado, western Nebraska, northern (locally also eastern and south-central) South Dakota and western Minnesota. Winters from southern USA (southern California and Arizona east to northern Colorado, central Kansas, central Oklahoma and northern Louisiana) to north-central Mexico (Sonora and western Coahuila south to Zacatecas and Aguascalientes).
Population
Estimated population is 5,600,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Status VU
Habitat destruction and degradation through conversion of native prairie to croplands and urban developments, is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus) [XC373364]
by Skyler Bol from BLM grasslands, north of Glasgow, Valley County, Montana, United States (call, song)
Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus) [XC354398]
by Paul Marvin from Curly Horse Rd, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States (flight call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Molecular studies indicate that genus is basal to both the New World and the Old World emberizids, and closely related to Plectrophenax. Has been suggested that these two genera and Rhynchophanes be placed in a separate family, Calcariidae. Present species has hybridized with McCown's Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet