{"id":45436,"date":"2017-03-10T06:31:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T13:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45436"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:02:51","slug":"male-horned-lark-territorial-behaviors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/10\/male-horned-lark-territorial-behaviors\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Horned Lark Territorial Behaviors – Tit-for-tat Chases"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Horned Lark territorial behavior – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I spent the morning photographing birds on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>, it was mostly sunny and windless and there was more bird activity on the island than I have seen in a while.<\/p>\n

The most interesting activities I saw yesterday were territorial behaviors and chases between two male Horned Larks in an open area of the park.<\/p>\n

When I first spotted the males they were involved in an aerial fight and when they landed and I was close enough to photograph them they began to chase each other.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Horned Larks simply chase the intruding males out of their territory and at times it is a “tit-for-tat” chase where they chase each other back and forth over the territorial boundary.<\/p>\n

\"TerritorialTerritorial male Horned Lark simulating feeding – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The male Horned Larks I saw and photographed yesterday seemed to be involved in the tit-for-tat chase because one would chase the other for a bit and then the roles would reverse.<\/p>\n

Literature also mentions that both males will stop and feed or simulate feeding during these chases and I observed that both of these males would stop and appear to look for food but I never saw either one feed on anything.<\/p>\n

This male kicked up some sand with its bill while simulating feeding.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark watching another male – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Both males spent time watching the other male when they would briefly stop chasing each other.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark during a territorial chase – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed these two male Horned Larks for about three minutes before a large shadow of a bird scared them off. That bird might have been a Prairie Falcon I had seen perched on a post just before I saw the larks.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Horned Lark on a small knoll – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/3200, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Of all the Horned Larks I saw yesterday I only saw one female not far from the two males that were chasing each other. My view of her was obstructed by grasses so I was somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t able to photograph her.<\/p>\n

I am including an image of a female I photographed last year in roughly the same area of the park to show the differences in gender. The females are slightly duller in appearance and their “horns” are less visible.<\/p>\n

An interesting behavior I saw with these two males and another pair of males was that one of the males would droop their wings and then vibrate one wing.<\/p>\n

I have not seen this behavior in Horned Larks before and I am unable to find any literature on it. It was fascinating to see even though I don’t know what the behavior was about.<\/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":"

The most interesting activities I saw yesterday were territorial behaviors and chases between two male Horned Larks in an open area of the park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166611,"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":[4226,4073,4284,4181,4070,1327,6433,2136,4062,5709,5245,5418,5708],"class_list":["post-45436","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-behavior","tag-breeding-season","tag-chase","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-female","tag-horned-lark","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-male","tag-simulated-feeding-behavior","tag-territorial","tag-territorial-behavior","tag-tit-for-tat-chase"],"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