On a lark

  

It was a cold and windy day here in Scituate, Massachusetts, but we went for a short walk this afternoon (11 December 2025) and caught up with a small flock of Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris).

I love how the russet tones in their feathers match the colors in the salt marsh at this time of year (above).

We also saw a few Horned Larks in a rocky area and it was fun to see how well they blended in with the rocks...although check out those beautiful golden head and throat markings!

 

 

 

 

 

One more photo, as I always appreciate when you can see a little more of an animal's behavior — in this case, searching for seeds among some of the upper marsh plants:

 

 

  

Gifts from the north country

  

It was a bit of soggy day here today (10 December 2024), but we spent a little time walking at Duxbury Beach (in Massachusetts) and encountered a flock of ~25-30 Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris).  

I thought I could hear some Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) mixed in with them as they flew by, so I snapped a few quick photos and then we spent a little more time trying to find them when they landed.  (You can see at least four longspurs in the photo above.)

Conditions were tough for photos (distant and dark), but here's an example of a Horned Lark (first photo below) and a Lapland Longspur (second photo):

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when we were walking back to the car, we noticed some movement on the ground and were glad to see a few Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis):

 

 

 

It was worth going out in the rain!

 

Searching for seeds among stones

Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), Duxbury, Massachusetts, 22 December 2017

Hola, HOLA!

 

Well, these are very "grainy" shots...it was getting dark when we were walking tonight (5 December 2016).  But this is only the second time I've seen a Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) on Salmon Creek Beach (during the past twelve years), so it seemed worth sharing some photos for the record.

Here's a view from the side.  In the first photo and the next one, note the yellowish face and throat; the dark facial markings; the black "necklace"; and pale underparts.

 

This individual showed quite a bit of russet coloration on the nape (neck) and some of the wing feathers:

 

 

 

The next photo is just fun.  It shows the more golden color above the bill (between the eyes) relative to the pale yellow on the throat and sides of the face.  [The Horned Lark is actively foraging among washed up eelgrass (Zostera marina).]

 

 

Parmeter and Wight (2010) write that Horned Larks have become scarce in Sonoma County. (I haven't heard thoughts about the reason(s) for this decline.  If you know more about local changes in Horned Lark populations, it would be interesting to hear more.)  It would be nice if this one decided to stay around for a while!

P.S.  The title of this post is a play on the 4-letter code for Horned Lark — using the first two letters from each word.