The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Thick-billed Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii)

The key to Thick-billed Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii) management is providing short, sparsely vegetated native grasslands of adequate size. Mixed-grass prairies can be made suitable for breeding Thick-billed Longspurs by implementing moderate-to-heavy or season-long grazing. Thick-billed Longspurs have been reported to use habitats with 5–42 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 3–7 cm visual obstruction reading, 15–67 percent grass cover, less than (<) 8 percent forb cover, <7 percent shrub cover, 2–60 percent bare ground, 10–63 percent litter cover, and <5 cm litter depth.