Landscape-scale habitat associations of Sprague's Pipits wintering in the southern United States

Sprague's Pipits (Anthus spragueii) are migratory grassland songbirds endemic to North America that have experienced a substantial decline in population over the last half-century. No complete account of their historic wintering range is available, and little is known about their current wintering range in the United States and Mexico. Sprague's Pipits are almost exclusively found in short- and mixed-grass native prairies in their breeding areas, but a broader range of habitats may be used in wintering areas. Our objective was to identify the habitat types used by wintering Sprague's Pipits at a landscape scale. Using GIS land cover and canopy cover data from the National Land Cover Database and locations of Sprague's Pipits submitted to eBird, we examined landscape-scale (1, 2, and 5km) habitat associations in their wintering areas in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. We found that locations where Sprague's Pipits were observed had less canopy cover and less woody vegetation than random locations. Although Sprague's Pipits are known to avoid non-native and anthropogenic grasslands (e.g., planted or non-native) at fine spatial scales in breeding areas, these habitat types were not avoided at the landscape scale during winter. These results suggest that anthropogenic grasslands maintained at a certain vegetative height and density via planned livestock grazing or management (prescribed fire and mechanical techniques) could provide suitable winter habitat for Sprague's Pipits.