![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/horned-lark-6325-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"horned-lark-6325-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nHorned Larks don’t get a lot of respect but I’m a fan.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Two days ago I braved the biting gnats on Antelope Island and this singing male Horned Lark was one of my rewards. He was perched on a decaying old stump in an area of the island that few people visit. I’ve often thought that stump might make an aesthetically pleasing perch if I could ever find a cooperative bird perched on it and yesterday I finally succeeded. I’m not disappointed.<\/p>\n I’ve mentioned before that I have fond memories of Horned Larks going back to my growing-up days in Montana where they were the most common birds on the family farm. As a kid I didn’t even know what species they were but they seemed to be everywhere. I always saw them from a distance and to my untrained eye they just looked like another nondescript LBJ (little brown job) but I’ll never forget the first time I saw a male in breeding plumage up close.<\/p>\n I was inside dad’s “shop” (where we worked on farm machinery) and had just turned out the lights to leave when it landed on an old rusty anvil just outside the door that was slightly open. I was in deep shade inside so the bird couldn’t see me and I was very close. The lark started singing its delicate and musical song<\/a> on the anvil and for the first time I really saw those subtly beautiful colors, distinctive facial markings and raised “horns”. I remember being both impressed by the bird and disappointed by my previous lack of observational skills.<\/p>\n I’ve been a fan ever since.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Horned Larks don’t get a lot of respect but I’m a fan.<\/p>\n