{"id":8035,"date":"2013-04-05T03:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:14:12","slug":"a-lark-or-two-or-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/05\/a-lark-or-two-or-four\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lark, Or Two, Or Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

The merry lark he soars on high, No worldly thought o’ertakes him. He sings aloud to the clear blue sky, And the daylight that awakes him. <\/em>–Hartley Coleridge<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Horned Lark displaying on a rock<\/span><\/p>\n

Hartley Coleridge lived in England from 1796 to 1849 and I’m certain he wasn’t writing about the larks we have in North America but I thought it was a suitable quote for a post on larks. The only native true lark that lives and breeds in North America is the Horned Lark.<\/p>\n

The male above was photographed in Tooele County, Utah a few days ago as he displayed on top of a rock. I didn’t see a female nearby but perhaps he did.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Lark Bunting<\/span><\/p>\n

Another bird with “lark” in its name is the Lark Bunting which is actually in the sparrow family. I photographed this female (please correct me if I am wrong in case this is a non-breeding male) at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana in June of 2011. So far the only opportunity I have had to photograph this species is the day I took this image.<\/p>\n

\"SagebrushSagebrush and a Lark Sparrow<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lark Sparrow earns its name by singing like a lark and\u00a0I am expecting their return to Utah any day now. I love that Harlequin pattern on their faces. This Lark Sparrow was photographed last May on Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Meadowlark singing in an early spring morning<\/span><\/p>\n

Western Meadowlarks aren’t larks or sparrows, they are Icterids but they sing like a lark too. This one was photographed yesterday on Antelope Island State Park. Right now they are singing on territory and they don’t seem able to stop themselves from singing even when they are hunting or eating food.<\/p>\n

There is a small breeding population of Sky Larks that were introduced near Vancouver that originated from Britain, Sky Larks that are seen elsewhere are likely vagrants from Asia.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The only native true lark that lives and breeds in North America is the Horned Lark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166533,"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":[511,1513,27,1022,436,2180,1465,12,608,358,26,371],"tags":[6530,5817,4372,779,4181,4070,4109,1327,6433,4549,1539,2136,4062,4824,4825,3969,4921,2817,4057,855,4195,4061,4308],"class_list":["post-8035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-horned-larks","category-lark-buntings","category-lark-sparrows","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-western-meadowlarks","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-chondestes-grammacus","tag-displaying","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-female","tag-grasses","tag-horned-lark","tag-lark","tag-lark-bunting","tag-lark-sparrow","tag-larks-2","tag-male","tag-meadowlark","tag-meadowlarks","tag-montana","tag-rock","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-sturnella-neglecta","tag-western-meadowlark"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-male-display-mia-mcpherson-4302.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-25B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3993,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/13\/friday-photos-horned-lark-and-western-meadowlark\/","url_meta":{"origin":8035,"position":0},"title":"Friday Photos ~ Horned Lark and Western Meadowlark","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks are birds that I enjoy photographing all year long in Utah and yesterday they gave me some wonderful opportunities.","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 (Sturnella neglecta), Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-6550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-6550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-6550.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-6550.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8749,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/30\/and-we-have-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":8035,"position":1},"title":"And We Have Lift Off!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to share some bird lift off images today so I rounded up a few that showed different styles of lift offs.","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":"Swainson's Hawk - Squat and push lift off","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2621.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2621.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2621.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2621.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38035,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/10\/a-startled-horned-lark\/","url_meta":{"origin":8035,"position":2},"title":"Startled Horned Lark","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was focused on the lark a small bird; presumably a sparrow, zoomed past and I captured an image of a startled Horned Lark who reacted by raising his wings and calling while he moved down the rock a bit.","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":"Startled Horned Lark on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-startled-mia-mcpherson-4255.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-startled-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-startled-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-startled-mia-mcpherson-4255.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":8035,"position":3},"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-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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/04\/horned-lark-stretching-his-left-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":8035,"position":5},"title":"Horned Lark Stretching His Left Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I like this photo for the eye contact, the fine details in the plumage of the bird, the stretched wing, light and how his one foot is raised, plus I think Horned Larks are beautiful songbirds.","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 stretching his left wing, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/horned-lark-male-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/horned-lark-male-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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