{"id":10059,"date":"2013-11-02T06:07:31","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T12:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=10059"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T16:25:05","slug":"male-horned-lark-in-the-west-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/02\/male-horned-lark-in-the-west-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Horned Lark In The West Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-166574 size-full\" title=\"Male Horned Lark crouching to take off from a rock in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358.jpg\" alt=\"Male Horned Lark crouching to take off from a rock in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"10058\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Male Horned Lark crouching to take off &#8211; Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This morning I wanted to do a much longer post but because I was so busy yesterday I wasn&#8217;t able to get that post done.<\/p>\n<p>So this morning I am sharing a simple image of a male Horned Lark in the West Desert crouching to take off from the rock he was perched on back in April of this year.<\/p>\n<p>In the West Desert of Utah there are a few places in Tooele County I can almost be sure to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Horned_Lark\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Horned Larks<\/span><\/a> warming themselves in the morning light on rocks and boulders.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/horned-lark-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Horned Lark photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the West Desert of Utah there are a few places in Tooele County I can almost be sure to find Horned Larks warming themselves in the morning light on rocks and boulders. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,436,358,26],"tags":[4004,4021,4506,4098,4181,7017,6433,2136,4282,4062,4921,10452,165,3792,4088],"class_list":["post-10059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-horned-larks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-crouching","tag-desert","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-foothills","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-lift-off","tag-male","tag-rock","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-spring","tag-take-off","tag-west-desert"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-hunched-down-mia-mcpherson-4358.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2Cf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1887,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/02\/14\/horned-larks\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":0},"title":"Horned Larks In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was awesome for Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) in Tooele County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Horned Lark male perched on a rock in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/06\/fall-male-horned-lark-plus-a-bonus-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":1},"title":"Fall Male Horned Lark Plus A Bonus Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I spent time photographing a male Horned Lark perched on a barbed wire fence in the West Desert, with Stansbury Island in the background.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fall male Horned Lark in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7980,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/31\/female-horned-lark-and-the-moon-setting-over-the-stansbury-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":2},"title":"Female Horned Lark And The Moon Setting Over The Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photograph tons of male Horned Larks but don't have that many images of female Horned Larks, I was happy to find this beautiful female dancing and singing on a boulder in early morning light yesterday in Tooele County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing female Horned Lark in Tooele County, Utah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37156,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/17\/a-west-desert-horned-lark-in-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":3},"title":"West Desert Horned Lark in Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This West Desert Horned Lark in golden light was taken in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains of Tooele County on a clear morning last month.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"West Desert Horned Lark female, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-tooele-mia-mcpherson-4051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-tooele-mia-mcpherson-4051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-tooele-mia-mcpherson-4051.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-tooele-mia-mcpherson-4051.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46168,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/12\/west-desert-horned-lark-on-sagebrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":4},"title":"West Desert Horned Lark On Sagebrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My best images of the day though were of this male Horned Lark that I found and pointed out on sagebrush singing and being blown around by the wind.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"West Desert male Horned Lark on sagebrush, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166438,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/06\/horned-lark-meet-the-2026-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":10059,"position":5},"title":"Horned Lark &#8211; Meet The 2026 ABA Bird Of The Year","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Meet the Horned Lark, chosen by the American Birding Association as the 2026 ABA Bird of the Year. A bold pick, and honestly a great one.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Early spring Horned Lark male on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-2132.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-2132.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-2132.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-2132.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}