{"id":144569,"date":"2025-05-18T02:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T07:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=144569"},"modified":"2025-05-17T19:36:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T00:36:45","slug":"lark-sparrow-on-lichen-covered-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/18\/lark-sparrow-on-lichen-covered-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Lark Sparrow On Lichen Covered Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Lark Sparrow was on such a beautiful pile of lichen covered rocks at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> last week that I had to take a photo.<\/p>\n

How could I pass it up? And really, why would I want to?<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow on lichen covered rocks at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 800, -0.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The lichen-covered reddish rocks, the soft morning light, the spring grasses, and the surrounding prairie habitat practically demanded that I take a few photos of the Lark Sparrow.<\/p>\n

Lark Sparrows were abundant at the refuge, and I was truly delighted to see them. I found them in grassy habitats, like this one, and in places I didn\u2019t expect. Finding them in the oak forests on the refuge was a bit of a surprise for me.<\/p>\n

The Lark Sparrows in the oak forests were harder to photograph than this little beauty.<\/p>\n

The Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge is remarkable as one of the oldest and most ecologically significant wildlife refuges in the United States.<\/p>\n

Established in 1901 and encompassing over 59,000 acres in southwestern Oklahoma, the refuge protects a unique landscape of ancient granite mountains, some of the oldest in North America, dating back around 500 million years-rising dramatically above the southern plains.<\/p>\n

Multiple habitats at the refuge support an extraordinary diversity of life, including over 800 plant species, 240 bird species, 50 mammals, and dozens of reptiles, amphibians, and fish.<\/p>\n

The rich array of wildlife, thriving in a mosaic of prairie, forest, and rocky habitats, makes the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge a unique and vital haven for both common and rare species of the southern Great Plains.<\/p>\n

This handsome sparrow was just one of the many wonders that made me smile at the refuge.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Lark Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Lark Sparrow was on such a beautiful pile of lichen-covered rocks at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge last week that I had to take a photo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,16439,1465,13973,16438],"tags":[4004,4372,3747,4109,1539,3291,9979,16442,4921,4470,855,4195,165],"class_list":["post-144569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-comanche-county","category-lark-sparrows","category-oklahoma","category-wichita-mountains-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-chondestes-grammacus","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-lark-sparrow","tag-lichen","tag-lichens","tag-mixed-grass-prairie","tag-rock","tag-rocks","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t