{"id":147971,"date":"2025-06-07T04:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T09:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=147971"},"modified":"2025-06-07T05:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T10:38:17","slug":"lark-sparrow-on-a-hackberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/07\/lark-sparrow-on-a-hackberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Lark Sparrow On A Hackberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I\u2019m sharing another Lark Sparrow photo I took last month while visiting Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> in south-central Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow on a hackberry in Oklahoma \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f11, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Canon RF 800mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The beautiful harlequin pattern on this sparrow\u2019s face definitely catches my interest. But I appreciate all sparrows a lot.<\/p>\n

I’m fairly certain this sparrow was perched on a hackberry, though I can’t say with confidence which one. It\u2019s a botanical guessing game with at least four native hackberries growing in Oklahoma. Could be Celtis laevigata<\/em>, the sugar hackberry, or Celtis occidentalis<\/em>, the common one. There’s nothing especially common about its stubborn refusal to be easily identified. Nature does love a good mystery, and hackberries seem determined to keep theirs.<\/p>\n

At least the sparrow doesn\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

The rocky slope in the background provided a nice backdrop to highlight the sparrow\u2019s simple beauty.<\/p>\n

I was delighted to find so many Lark Sparrows at the refuge in several types of habitat.<\/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":"

Today I\u2019m sharing another Lark Sparrow photo I took last month while visiting Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in south-central Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,16439,1465,13973,16438],"tags":[4004,4372,10480,7837,1539,16442,4104,855,4195,165],"class_list":["post-147971","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-hackberries","tag-hackberry","tag-lark-sparrow","tag-mixed-grass-prairie","tag-perched","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/lark-sparrow-wichita-mountains-wr-mia-mcpherson-3797.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-CuD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":144569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/18\/lark-sparrow-on-lichen-covered-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":147971,"position":0},"title":"Lark Sparrow On Lichen Covered Rocks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lark Sparrow on lichen covered rocks at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Comanche County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lark-sparrow-lichen-rocks-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2684.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lark-sparrow-lichen-rocks-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2684.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lark-sparrow-lichen-rocks-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2684.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lark-sparrow-lichen-rocks-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2684.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100931,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/20\/world-sparrow-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":147971,"position":1},"title":"World Sparrow Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is World Sparrow Day and since I love all of the sparrows on the planet I thought I'd share some of the sparrows I have photographed in North America.","rel":"","context":"In "American Tree Sparrows"","block_context":{"text":"American Tree Sparrows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/emberzine-sparrows-allies\/american-tree-sparrows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White-crowned Sparrow in a hackberry tree, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/white-crowned-sparrow-hackberry-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-4955.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/lark-sparrow-golden-light-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3329.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/lark-sparrow-golden-light-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3329.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/lark-sparrow-golden-light-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3329.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/lark-sparrow-golden-light-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3329.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88689,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/22\/nesting-lark-sparrow-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":147971,"position":3},"title":"Nesting Lark Sparrow Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the first birds I heard singing three days ago in the West Desert of Tooele County was a Lark Sparrow perched on top of a sagebrush.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lark Sparrow with nesting materials in its bill, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-mia-mmcpherson-9979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-mia-mmcpherson-9979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-mia-mmcpherson-9979.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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shared any of my recent Lark Sparrow photos this spring so I thought I would remedy that by sharing some that I took out in the West Desert nine days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Lark Sparrow perched on a juniper, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-desert-mia-mcpherson-2668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-desert-mia-mcpherson-2668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/lark-sparrow-adult-spring-desert-mia-mcpherson-2668.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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