{"id":74697,"date":"2020-10-15T05:58:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T11:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74697"},"modified":"2024-11-09T03:21:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T09:21:15","slug":"barbed-wire-death-trap-western-meadowlark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/15\/barbed-wire-death-trap-western-meadowlark\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbed Wire Death Trap – Western Meadowlark"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love what I do 99.9% of the time but being out in the field also exposes me to sights I don’t like to see which is birds and animals hung up on fences.<\/p>\n

\"DeceasedDeceased Western Meadowlark hung up on a barbed wire fence – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm at 105mm, handheld, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve come across more birds and animals hung up on barbed wire fences than I have wanted to see. There have been a few times that I have been able to rescue live birds caught on fences that would have died a slow painful death without intervention including an adult Barn Owl<\/span><\/a> in Montana and a fledgling Short-eared Owl<\/span><\/a> here in Utah.<\/p>\n

Both of those rescued owls lived. The Barn Owl was rehabbed and released<\/span><\/a> at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge which was not far from where it was rescued. The young Short-eared Owl had extensive damage to his patagialis and wasn’t releasable. After rehab the young Short-eared Owl was handed over to HawkWatch International<\/span><\/a>, named Galileo, and he is currently<\/del> was an education bird there. (Galileo died in 2023)<\/p>\n

I’ve come across other birds and animals that unfortunately died slowly and painfully after becoming hung up on barbed wire death traps. Some I have photographed and some I just couldn’t bring myself to raise my lens. I’ve seen bats, deer, pronghorn, Burrowing Owls, Short-eared Owls, grouse and other birds and animals that had died because they became entangled and perished due to fences.<\/p>\n

Last month the first photos I took on a trip out to the West Desert were images that I felt I needed to take to document the death of a Western Meadowlark that had gotten entangled on a single barb of a fence. I saw the meadowlark hanging from the fence and thought I might be able to rescue it. The Western Meadowlark was deceased and I was too late to save it.<\/p>\n

The birds and animals don’t always see the fences before they become entangled or before they strike the fences at high speeds. Barbed wire is probably the deadliest fencing material for birds and wildlife but other fencing materials can be deadly too. There are wildlife friendly options for fencing<\/span><\/a> and oh how I wish that more ranchers and landowners would use them which would save the lives of countless birds and animals.<\/p>\n

Over the past month I thought about whether I wanted to share images and tell the story of this Western Meadowlark that lost its life because of a barbed wire death trap and finally decided that the story needed to be told.<\/p>\n

Who knows, a rancher or a landowner that came across a dead bird or animal hung up on a fence might find this post and realize that there are wildlife friendly options for fencing and act on it.<\/p>\n

I hope so. We can all spread the word about wildlife friendly fencing options.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Over the past month I thought about whether I wanted to share images and tell the story of this Western Meadowlark that lost its life because of a barbed wire death trap and finally decided that the story needed to be told.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,358,26,1314,371],"tags":[4004,970,1894,4430,10534,10532,4098,4620,3830,9034,7017,10533,4624,4824,4825,10531,10452,4061,4308,10535],"class_list":["post-74697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-western-meadowlarks","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-barb-wire","tag-barbed-wire","tag-death-trap","tag-deceased","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-fence","tag-fencing","tag-foothills","tag-hazard","tag-hung-up","tag-meadowlark","tag-meadowlarks","tag-mortality","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-sturnella-neglecta","tag-western-meadowlark","tag-wildlife-friendly-fencing-options"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/western-meadowlark-hung-on-fence-mia-mcpherson-1016.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jqN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7832,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/13\/sounds-of-spring-western-meadowlark\/","url_meta":{"origin":74697,"position":0},"title":"Sounds of Spring – Western Meadowlark","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Normally we have Western Meadowlarks year round here in the Salt Lake Valley but because this past winter was harsh it seemed that they moved south for a bit. They are back now and singing their songs of spring.","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":"Western Meadowlark on a sign post, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-8130.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-8130.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-8130.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-8130.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":79643,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/21\/february-western-meadowlark-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":74697,"position":1},"title":"February Western Meadowlark Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I took a series of Western Meadowlark photos three mornings ago at Farmington Bay WMA while the sun was shining.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Meadowlark singing on a February morning, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-adult-fence-singing-mia-mcpherson-3917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-adult-fence-singing-mia-mcpherson-3917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-adult-fence-singing-mia-mcpherson-3917.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-adult-fence-singing-mia-mcpherson-3917.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6115,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/14\/western-meadowlark-about-to-fly\/","url_meta":{"origin":74697,"position":2},"title":"Western Meadowlark About To Fly","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Western Meadowlark was about to take off from the boulder it was on when I photographed it on Wednesday.","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":"Western Meadowlark about to fly, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8411,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/22\/western-meadowlark-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":74697,"position":3},"title":"Western Meadowlark In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This Western Meadowlark lifted off from a Sagebrush and I was able to track it and capture this image as soon as it was airborne. I've found it difficult to get images of Western Meadowlarks in flight because they move so quickly.","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":"Western Meadowlark in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/western-meadowlark-flying-mia-mcpherson-7525.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/western-meadowlark-flying-mia-mcpherson-7525.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/western-meadowlark-flying-mia-mcpherson-7525.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Meadowlark that I found two days ago on Antelope Island State Park was a wonderful springtime melody that I needed to hear.\u00a0","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":"Western Meadowlark singing in spring, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/western-meadowlark-spring-song-mia-mcpherson-4421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/western-meadowlark-spring-song-mia-mcpherson-4421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/western-meadowlark-spring-song-mia-mcpherson-4421.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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