It seems like there were a lot of Lark Bunting sightings in Utah earlier this year, or maybe because we had a couple locally it seemed like there were a lot to me, not sure which. The Utah bird checklist says they are "rare in summer, primarily in northern Utah". I was excited to see my first Lark Bunting at the Provo Airport Dike on the west road along the first fence, before the tower. I was hoping to see the Bobolinks that Suzi had seen there the day before so I was focusing on black birds anyway. The bunting was on the road ahead of me, acting differently than a Starling or even a Brewers blackbird so I got my bino's on it and was surprised to see something I'd never seen before. My friend and I had been to Antelope Island just the weekend before hoping to see the ones that were being seen there but we were skunked.

Male Lark Bunting by Paul Higgins

The Lark Bunting is in the Sparrow family, not the Lark family or the Bunting family. The 'lark' part of its name comes from its song flight. In courtship, the male rapidly flies up to 20-30 feet above the ground, then floats or flutters back to the ground on outstretched wings, while singing. This is similar to the displays of some Eurasian lark species (especially the Eurasian Skylark), and is the reason the buntings have "lark" in their common name." It's worth listening to on your birding app or a website.

Pete Dunne describes the Lark Bunting as "a large, stocky, gregarious prairie sparrow. Overtly stocky, even portly, and shaped most like House Sparrow, with a large round head, a heavy conical bill, a plump body, and a short-ish tail." When I read this description I was confused because I didn't think it look like a sparrow shape at all when I saw it. Not just because it was velvety black with a large white wing stripe, but because it seemed tall and slim, not short and stocky! But Dunne went on to say, "But where House Sparrows seems to crouch, Lark Bunting holds itself erect." Which explained it all! I found the bird to be quite stunning, elegant even. I watched it hop along the road, into the brush, back out, flit over to a brush pile, flit back to the road, up to the fence, back to the road, etc. It never occurred to me that it was in the sparrow family.

In breeding plumage, males are unmistakable, an all-black body, a bluish bill, and a long white patch along the lower edge of the wing. Non-breeding males, females, and immature are grayish brown above, pale and heavily streaked below. They breed in dry, open, short-grass prairie, grasslands, and agricultural lands. They feed on seeds, invertebrates, and some fruits. In pursuit of insects, Lark Buntings are agile and versatile predators, stalking, then chasing down on foot, pursuing them in flight, and gleaning them from vegetation. They nest on the ground, normally in a small depression at the base of a shrub, cactus, or large grass clump that will provide cover and shade. Both male and female build the nest and feed the young, and the young probably leave the nest about 9 days after hatching.

Also of note, it is the State bird of Colorado, designated in 1931, it was chosen because of its acrobatic courtship dance and melodic song. John James Audubon named it the Prairie Lark-Finch, and in his description of it he includes a field note by another observer, Mr. Nuttall, who described its courtship dance and song and concluded, "In short one of the sweetest songsters of the prairie." (Mr. Nuttall is likely Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841, and for whom the Nuttall's Woodpecker is named.) 


Sources:
 - allaboutbirds.org
 - 50states.com/bird/colorado.htm
 - audubon.org
 - Wikipedia
 - Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion