{"id":67842,"date":"2020-04-05T06:05:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T12:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=67842"},"modified":"2024-08-06T04:18:37","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T09:18:37","slug":"west-desert-male-horned-lark-singing-on-a-snow-topped-fence-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/05\/west-desert-male-horned-lark-singing-on-a-snow-topped-fence-post\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Male Horned Lark Singing On A Snow-topped Fence Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Horned Lark singing on a snow-topped fence post – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this adult male Horned Lark singing on a snow-topped fence post three days ago after a spring snow fell overnight in the West Desert.<\/p>\n

Horned Larks are early breeders and here in northern Utah they start nesting as early as February when the temps are very low and snow fall is possible on any given day. The Horned Larks where I photographed this male may already be working on getting their second broods going.<\/p>\n

Horned Larks are year round residents in northern Utah although I suspect we may see more of them during the winter because birds that spend their breeding season further north may migrate through this area or overwinter here.<\/p>\n

Horned Larks blend into their open country habitat very well and may look like just a clod of dirt in a plowed field to some people. That is until they take flight!<\/p>\n

I love to hear Horned Larks singing<\/span><\/a> and more often than not find them on an elevated perch when they sing. At times the elevated perch they use may be no more than just a few inches above the soil or they might sing from the top of a bush, boulder or fence post several feet above the ground.<\/p>\n

Where ever they sing and where ever I find them Horned Larks are always a joy to see, observe, and photograph.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/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":"

I photographed this adult male Horned Lark singing on a snow-topped fence post three days ago after a spring snow fell overnight in the West Desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,436,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,4098,4181,898,1327,6433,2136,4062,4069,4394,4179,10452,4050,9493,9121,165,495,8917],"class_list":["post-67842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-horned-larks","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-desert","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-fence-post","tag-horned-lark","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-post","tag-singing-2","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-snow","tag-snow-topped","tag-songbirds","tag-spring","tag-spring-snow","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/horned-lark-male-snow-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hEe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/06\/fall-male-horned-lark-plus-a-bonus-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":67842,"position":0},"title":"Fall Male Horned Lark Plus A Bonus Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I spent time photographing a male Horned Lark perched on a barbed wire fence in the West Desert, with Stansbury Island in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fall male Horned Lark in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/horned-lark-fall-adult-male-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2106.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7980,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/31\/female-horned-lark-and-the-moon-setting-over-the-stansbury-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":67842,"position":1},"title":"Female Horned Lark And The Moon Setting Over The Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photograph tons of male Horned Larks but don't have that many images of female Horned Larks, I was happy to find this beautiful female dancing and singing on a boulder in early morning light yesterday in Tooele County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing female Horned Lark in Tooele County, Utah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/horned-lark-singing-female-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166438,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/06\/horned-lark-meet-the-2026-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":67842,"position":2},"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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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.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-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-perched-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-6533.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/15\/great-horned-owls-and-horned-larks-birds-with-ear-tufts\/","url_meta":{"origin":67842,"position":4},"title":"Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks – Birds with 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8239.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1887,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/02\/14\/horned-larks\/","url_meta":{"origin":67842,"position":5},"title":"Horned Larks In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was awesome for Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) in Tooele County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Horned Lark male perched 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-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.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-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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