{"id":46925,"date":"2017-05-25T04:44:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T10:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46925"},"modified":"2025-10-25T06:19:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T11:19:42","slug":"photographing-lark-sparrows-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/25\/photographing-lark-sparrows-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Lark Sparrows on Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PerkyPerky Lark Sparrow on a post – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I braved the biting gnats on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> yesterday but for the first time I used the fine mesh head net I bought several years ago to keep the gnats away from my hair and scalp. I really hate those blood sucking gnats and I can’t wait for them to go away.<\/p>\n

I am glad I went to the island though because it had been nearly a month since I had been out there and I wanted to see the Great Salt Lake, the wildlife, and of course the birds.<\/p>\n

I saw Lark Sparrows all over the island, they were resting, flitting about, singing, foraging, and showed up on top of natural and human made perches.<\/p>\n

Even though I prefer natural perches I can’t resist photographing a perky looking Lark Sparrow on a human made post.<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow resting on a post – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And when the Lark Sparrows give me more than one pose on the same perch I will keep photographing them.<\/p>\n

This sparrow seemed pretty comfortable on the human made post until a noisy vehicle came by and startled it enough that it flew off in a hurry.<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow on a Tintic Quartzite boulder – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Further south on Antelope Island the Larks Sparrows were on the tops of sagebrush, rabbitbrush and tintic quartzite boulders and rocks.<\/p>\n

The cheatgrass on the island has already turned brown and that is what was in the background of this photo. I like this photo but…<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow against a blue sky – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I must admit I liked the photos of the next Lark Sparrow I photographed more than the brown cheatgrass in the image above because the sparrow stands out so well from the blue sky.<\/p>\n

I also like the combination of the cool tones of the sky and the warm tones of the boulder and Lark Sparrow.<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow on a bright boulder – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And when the sparrow hopped up to the top of the boulder I delighted to see and photograph its whole body as it looked in my direction long enough to take a few frames. I love it when I can take photos of birds that show all of their beauty.<\/p>\n

Lark Sparrows<\/span><\/a> are only in Utah during their breeding season so whenever I have the opportunity to photograph them and their bold facial patterns I am thoroughly delighted.<\/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":"

Lark Sparrows are only in Utah during their breeding season so whenever I have the opportunity to photograph them and their bold facial patterns I am thoroughly delighted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161684,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,1465,26],"tags":[4004,514,4138,4372,5879,1539,4104,3819,8301,8300,4156,4018,855,4195,3251],"class_list":["post-46925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-lark-sparrows","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-biting-gnats","tag-boulder","tag-chondestes-grammacus","tag-facial-patterns","tag-lark-sparrow","tag-perched","tag-perky","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-resting","tag-sky","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-tintic-quartzite"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-post-mia-mcpherson-8786.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ccR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22283,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/23\/lark-sparrows-have-returned-to-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":46925,"position":0},"title":"Lark Sparrows Have Returned to Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past week I have been anxiously awaiting my first sighting of Lark Sparrows and yesterday I finally saw them.","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":"Singing Lark Sparrow perched in Sagebrush in northern Utah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-0956.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-singing-mia-mcpherson-0956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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date and this was a very cooperative bird too!","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":"Perched Lark Sparrow, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-9201.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-mia-mcpherson-9201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-9201.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-mia-mcpherson-9201.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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