{"id":35643,"date":"2016-02-17T05:38:23","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T12:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35643"},"modified":"2024-09-09T04:41:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T09:41:44","slug":"a-female-horned-lark-on-a-february-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/17\/a-female-horned-lark-on-a-february-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Horned Lark on a February morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Horned Lark on a February morning – Nikon D810, f5.6, 1\/2500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I took a few images of a Horned Lark male singing on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> and it reminded me that I hadn’t posted this image of a female Horned Lark that I photographed last year.<\/p>\n

Other vagrant larks do show up now and then but Horned Larks are the only lark native to North America.\u00a0 In their range Horned Larks can be found in elevations from sea level up to 13,000 feet and because they were found at such high elevations Linnaeus called them Alauda alpestris<\/em> which meant “lark of the mountains”. Now they belong to the genus Eremophila <\/em>but I must admit I like thinking of it as the lark of the mountains.<\/p>\n

Horned Larks are early nesters and nests can be found as early as February even in northern States. I do know that the males here in Utah are already singing on their territories and chasing other males around.<\/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 took a few images of a Horned Lark male singing on Antelope Island State Park and it reminded me that I hadn’t posted this image of a female Horned Lark that I photographed last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134265,"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":[511,27,1022,436,26],"tags":[4181,4070,4038,1327,6433,2136,4104,4921,2816],"class_list":["post-35643","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-eremophila-alpestris","tag-female","tag-grasslands","tag-horned-lark","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-perched","tag-rock","tag-song-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/horned-lark-female-mia-mcpherson-1021.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9gT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":166438,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/06\/horned-lark-meet-the-2026-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":35643,"position":0},"title":"Horned Lark – 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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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, 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Tufts","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks are species of birds that have tufts that I photograph regularly here in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Great Horned Owl on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8239.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8239.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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native true lark that lives and breeds in North America is the Horned Lark.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Horned Lark displaying 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-male-display-mia-mcpherson-4302.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-display-mia-mcpherson-4302.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-display-mia-mcpherson-4302.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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