![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/horned-lark-7372c-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"horned-lark-7372c-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI don’t get many photos of Horned Larks I like but I do like this one.<\/p>\n
I’ve always enjoyed Horned Larks, partly because they remind me of the Montana farm where I grew up. But their tendency to forage on nearly bare earth means their settings are often unattractive. I photograph them most often on Antelope Island where the predominant rocks they perch on are nearly white and aesthetically unappealing. And they seldom perch on plants or provide interesting poses so it’s rare indeed for me to get a Horned Lark photo that tickles my fancy.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But this one, taken two days ago on the island, is an exception. Somehow the male Horned Lark found a rock with some color in it to perch on and as a bonus I like its angularity and cliff-like appearance. My shutter clicked just as he gave me a saucy pose with his horns semi-erected, one foot raised off the rock and many of his feathers fluffed up during a partial rouse.<\/p>\n I don’t see many bird photos where the colors of the palette come this close to monotone. To my eye the colors of the background, the rock and much of the bird are unusually similar, to the point that the photo may not have much appeal for some viewers. And I’ll admit that I wish his face were just a little brighter to make it stand out better.<\/p>\n But for my tastes the near-monotone color palette is unusual enough to be interesting and since I don’t post photos of Horned Larks very often (for reasons I mentioned) I decided to make this guy famous.<\/p>\n Or infamous, as the case may be.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – There’s another reason I decided to post this image. Many bird photographers tend to ignore Horned Larks for their own reasons but I suspect one of them is because they’re so common in much of their range. I don’t see “common” as a negative and I like to see Horned Larks get the attention they deserve.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t get many photos of Horned Larks I like but I do like this one.<\/p>\n