{"id":3290,"date":"2011-10-10T06:26:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T12:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:40:30","slug":"prolonged-male-horned-lark-preening-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/10\/10\/prolonged-male-horned-lark-preening-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Prolonged Male Horned Lark Preening Session"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Horned Lark behind boulder – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Normally when I see Horned Larks preening it doesn’t last very long, a car or person comes by and scares the birds off,\u00a0the sound of the shutter startles it or a raptor in the sky causes it to be alarmed and it flushes.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I found this very cooperative male Horned Lark.\u00a0 This male\u00a0bird preened for a full seven minutes and I took 256 images of it.<\/p>\n

The bird was behind a boulder at first but popped up on top of the right almost immediately and began to preen. He sure put on a show. This post won’t have much text but it does have plenty of images.<\/p>\n

Little did I know how this Horned Lark was getting prepped for a marathon preening session.<\/p>\n

\"HornedWarming up for the preening session – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark warms up – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark stretching those shoulders – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark side view – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark all fluffed up – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark keeping an eye on the sky –\u00a0Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark grooming – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark scratching an itch – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark Pilates – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark stretching left side – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark stretching the right wing – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark shaking it off – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark head tuck – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark and the Paparazzi pose –\u00a0 Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark head turn – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark wing stretch – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark checking out the sky – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HandsomeHandsome Horned Lark – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark finished with grooming – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark about to fly – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had a lot of fun photographing this prolonged male Horned Lark<\/span><\/a> preening session on Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday I came across this very cooperative male Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris). This male bird preened for a full seven minutes and I took 256 images of it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_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":[511,27,1022,436,26],"tags":[4004,4021,4138,4181,716,1327,6433,2136,4062,1009,4019,3964],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-horned-larks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-boulder","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-grooming","tag-horned-lark","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-male","tag-perching-birds-2","tag-preening-2","tag-stretching"],"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