Horned Lark

Red Mountain Open Space on March 4th - In the absence of spring in Laramie, I'm going to write another blog entry about my interesting Sunday sojourn to more favorable conditions.  On the drive to the hiking trails, the fields were filled with pronghorn, cattle and swooping birds.  The most noticeable birds were horned larks, Eremophila alpestris.  The one perched on a rock in the following photo was singing his pretty song as if spring were already in full bloom.

The horned lark is the only true American lark.  No skylarks ("Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!") here.  These guys like open spaces without too many obstacles like trees to get in their way.  No surprise, then, that they like the Wyoming/Colorado prairie.

From sipapu.wordpress.com:  "Interestingly, Horned Larks are one of only four species in Colorado that breed above treeline. (For those keeping score, the other three are Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, American Pipit, and Rock Wren.)"  The picture of the curious lark below was taken well above treeline on Mt. Rainier (obviously not in Colorado, but the point stands).  Perhaps Washington State larks are more friendly than those in the mountain west.  Or, more likely, this bird was accustomed to handouts or crumbs from National Park hikers.  It's not often that songbirds walk towards humans.

 

This species doesn't really have horns, but only black tufts of feathers on the top of the head that can sometimes look horn-like when raised.  As there are as many as fifteen different subspecies, I will not attempt to be any more precise with my identification.  I'm happy enough to be able to recognize them to the species level.

This final picture was taken within the Laramie city limits last year in late June.  I wonder if I will have to wait over three more months before I see this species in town again...