![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/western-meadowlark-1421b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-1421b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSome folks think of meadowlarks strictly as spring and summer birds but around here they can also be snowbirds.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this Western Meadowlark at Farmington Bay WMA almost exactly five years ago, on December 18, 2015. A recent heavy snowstorm had turned the landscape into a winter wonderland so when the sun came out that morning everything was squeaky clean and sparkling. The meadowlark had been sunning itself on top of some snow-covered vegetation and not long before takeoff I caught ‘him’ performing a wing stretch.<\/p>\n I love the juxtaposition of his bright and cheery colors amongst all the mounds of snow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Western Meadowlark range map: Creative commons, By Cephas\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The line between their summer\/breeding range and their year-round range runs almost through my back yard so in years when winters aren’t severe I can see Western Meadowlarks all year long. I live at the south end of the Great Salt Lake in northern Utah – the lake is clearly defined on this Western Meadowlark range map.<\/p>\n When I lived on the family farm in Montana meadowlarks were one of our most numerous late spring and summer birds and everybody up there seems to love their sweet, flute-like warbled song and cheery colors. In fact the Western Meadowlark is the MT state bird but up there meadowlarks are smart enough to get the hell out of Dodge before the snow flies. So we’d never, ever see a single meadowlark during the long and frigid winter months.<\/p>\n And that’s a big part of the reason it was a real treat for me to find this feathered bundle of sunshine on top of the snow at Farmington that morning.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes: <\/em><\/p>\n The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. Only the Northern Cardinal is a more popular civic symbol, edging out the Western Meadowlark by one state.<\/em><\/p>\n On the other hand the state bird of Utah is the California Gull, chosen for religious reasons (the “miracle of the gulls<\/a><\/span><\/span>“) in spite of the fact that the California Gull is named after another state and the so-called “miracle of the gulls” wasn’t remarkable at all (see the ‘historical review’ in the provided link).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/western-meadowlark-range-map.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-range-map\\"")
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